Night Sights Nature Tours

05/02/2026

It's the kind of Texas camping experience where the wildlife is real, the isolation is total, and the stars overhead look like something you'd have to leave the country to find.

04/19/2026

Something has been patrolling your garden since spring. It starts at dusk, works until dawn, and eats a surprising amount of pests before sunrise.

You've likely seen it once — when you lifted a rock or flipped a board and a big dark beetle shot across the soil. That was your night shift.

Ground beetles are one of the largest families of predatory beetles in North America. Most are dark, shiny, fast, and completely harmless to plants. They eat slugs, cutworms, snail eggs, aphids, and the larvae of the beetles that chew through your seedlings in spring. The adults keep hunting for years.

They hide during the day because they're built for darkness — large eyes, strong jaws, long legs made for speed across open soil. They shelter under mulch, rocks, logs, and leaf litter.

Every piece of debris you leave on the ground is shelter. Every cleanup that strips the soil bare makes the garden less protected the following night.

The identification is simpler than most people expect. A ground beetle has a hard shiny shell, prominent eyes, and runs in a straight line across soil. A cockroach has long threadlike antennae, a flatter body, and heads indoors. Ground beetles have no interest in your house.

🌿 How to keep them working for you:

- Leave mulch, leaf litter, and a few flat stones in garden beds — these are daytime shelters that keep ground beetles on your property
- Reduce or eliminate broad-spectrum pesticide use — ground beetles absorb what they eat, and poisoned slugs mean poisoned beetles
- A board or flat rock placed between garden rows gives them a reliable hiding spot you can check — lift it in the morning and you'll see who's been working the night shift
- The fast dark beetle that startles you when you move something is almost certainly an ally, not a pest

She works a shift you'll never witness. Leave the mulch 🌿

04/19/2026

THE NIGHT FEEDING SCHEDULE NOBODY SEES.

Between midnight and five AM, there are parents in your neighborhood making deliveries on a schedule more demanding than a newborn human's.

GREAT HORNED OWL FATHER: Hunts from dusk to dawn. Delivers two to five prey items to the nest per night. She tears each one into pieces small enough for chicks that weigh less than two ounces. He hunts rabbits, rats, mice, skunks, and smaller birds. He doesn't eat until she and the chicks are fed. Average delivery interval: every two to three hours.

RED FOX FATHER: Brings food to the den entrance at roughly two AM and again at four AM. He does not enter the den — she retrieves it. Typical delivery: a vole, a mouse, or a cached rabbit haunch. He buried surplus food in November. He's digging it up now. She's underground nursing four kits every three hours and eating between sessions.

RACCOON MOTHER: Solo. She leaves the den at midnight, forages for ninety minutes, returns. Leaves again at three AM, forages for sixty minutes, returns. She nurses the kits between trips. She's losing weight. There is no second parent. He left after mating.

OPOSSUM MOTHER: Doesn't make deliveries. The young are in her pouch, attached to ni***es, receiving milk continuously as she moves. She forages all night — every calorie she consumes is partially converted to milk for eight pouch young. She eats fallen fruit, insects, carrion, cat food left on porches, and garbage. She is a walking nursery.

COTTONTAIL: One visit. Between midnight and five AM. Three to four minutes. She uncovers the nest, nurses five kits with milk that is roughly fourteen percent fat — about four times richer than cow's milk, re-covers them, and vanishes. One visit. That's the entire parenting schedule for the night.

🌿 What this means:

- If you hear thumping on your roof at two AM — the owl just landed with a mouse
- If your trash was disturbed at three AM — a nursing raccoon needed the calories
- The cottontail nest in your lawn received its only visit of the day while you slept

The busiest parents in your neighborhood work a shift you never see. 🌿

04/19/2026

04/19/2026

🦇We're so excited to celebrate by unveiling our Bat Ambassador Training that is free, online, and open to all!
Swoop in to discover fun bat facts that will impress your friends. Link in comments. 👇

A Bat Ambassador is simply someone who loves bats and helps to foster a wider appreciation for them. Bat Ambassadors talk with friends, family, neighbors, and others, sharing information about how amazing bats are and the many ways we can support and protect them. As a Bat Ambassador, you’ll also be eligible to take additional courses to learn new Bat Skills like leading Bat Walks and planting Bat Gardens (coming soon!)

Photo: Jonathan Alonzo

04/19/2026

CANT BELIEVE WE ARE 2 WEEKS AWAY FROM BAT SEASON!!!

Basic Rules when visiting Old Tunnel State Park

🦇Park is open for FREE everyday year round, from SUNRISE-5PM.
🦇 park passes do not work for bat tickets. Park passes cover entry fees, and Old Tunnel is a free entry park. You are paying $2-$5/person to see the bats.
🦇 Pets are not allowed as they can have negative effects on our bat and other wildlife
🦇Tickets must be PRE-BOUGHT for bat viewing for everyone, every age.
🦇 DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN VIEWING AREAS FOR THE SAFTY OF THE BATS
🦇Lower Viewing is THURSDAY-SUNDAY, this helps keep disturbance to a minimum for our bats
🦇 lower viewing is only for ages 4years+ for noise disturbance of bats
🦇 lower viewing tickets are the only ones allowed on trail after 5pm so we can make sure everyone is accounted for before bat viewing.
🦇 tickets are for bat viewing, it does not guarantee a program/talk, this is based on volunteers available
🦇 park stamp is available during any program OR at LBJ park store during open hours

04/17/2026

A number of species go out and about after dark, preferring the cooler temperatures and soft gloom to the harsh sun. (Who can blame them?) These are a sampling of some you could glimpse in the Texas moonlight: https://texashighways.com/outdoors/seven-texas-critters-to-look-out-for-at-night/

04/16/2026

PSA: Most squirrel bites come from the “bitey end” – so look out

Squirrels look harmless – small, fluffy, and used to people – which is exactly why so many bites happen. In parks, they’re actually one of the most common wildlife-related injuries.

The problem usually starts with food. When people feed squirrels, they quickly learn that humans are the source. Over time, that natural caution disappears. They get closer, bolder, and more willing to grab — sometimes missing the food and getting your hand instead.

It doesn’t take much. A quick movement, a piece of food held too close, or even just curiosity. Squirrels see an outstretched hand and assume it’s feeding time — so they bite.

And it’s not just about you. Human food can harm wildlife, and repeated feeding changes their behavior, making them more aggressive and dependent.

Human food can disrupt their gut bacteria, making it harder for them to digest their natural diet. Some animals end up starving with full stomachs. Feeding also draws them into roads and crowded areas, where they’re more likely to be injured or killed.

Squirrels don’t know better. But we do.

That moment when a wild animal walks right up to you might feel special, but it’s usually a sign something’s gone wrong.

Don't be a part of the problem, be part of the solution!

Learn more:
"Are You An Animal Lover?" National Park Service

04/16/2026

03/27/2026

Swatting at wasps on your porch isn't an ideal evening. Here's how to keep wasps from nesting on or near your porch so you can enjoy it.