If you can break away from the birdlife at the refuge briefly, you'll find yourself distracted by an array of natural attractions that typify the Balcones Canyonlands ecoregion. From the ground up, there is something of interest for everyone. Start with geology. Giant Oxitropidocerus ammonite fossils, which are evidence of the abundance of life in ancient shallow seas, litter the ground over massive limestones, which today support habitat for the Black-capped Vireo. On several refuge tracts, those massive limestones are pockmarked with small sinkholes and caves that provide an environment for very specialized cave critters.
Collections made in several caves await examination by species experts.
The plant list for the refuge now includes some 525 species and is being added to all the time. As is typical of the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau, this flora shows a mixture of eastern, western, and southern influences along with a host of endemic species. You might find yourself in a shaded canyon woodland of Texas oak with Carolina basswood and Arizona walnut. As you step out onto the hot limestone slope, you smell the aroma of damianita under foot and see the blossoms of showy menodora, both of which remind you of your last hike in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend. Back in the shade of the wooded canyon, eastern columbines drape from the moist limestone boulders.