Government Canyon State Natural Area - Texas Parks and Wildlife

Government Canyon State Natural Area - Texas Parks and Wildlife Government Canyon State Natural Area opened to the public in '05 & our mission is aquifer protection.
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Before visiting please remember that reservations are recommended as capacity limits are in place. You can check permit availability and make reservations online at texasstateparks.reserveamerica.com

Check out our educational resources below:

Interactive Birding Poster- friendsofgovernmentcanyon.org/birding

Virtual Bird Guide-
docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTG9qCnFvCB_BuliHv8WYHcOj4dSNNAHQzdDDIuNznMTb6jyeicxfoQO_qbQo19LQr2PXfnXuLxzXY7/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=5000

Welcome to another Wildlife Wednesday! In honor of the birds that we have been seeing here lately, we are going to take ...
08/12/2026

Welcome to another Wildlife Wednesday! In honor of the birds that we have been seeing here lately, we are going to take a look at the Inca Dove.

While there are many animals, birds included, who struggle with urban expansion, Inca Doves are among the lucky few who seem not to mind sharing a habitat with humans, whether on a rural farm, or even deep in the city. This comfort with urban life may stem from a love of convenience. Inca Doves almost exclusively eat seeds, which is a handy diet to have, whether you live near numerous bird feeders in the city, or at a farm where livestock might share their grain. In addition to food, water is often easier to find where people live, either in a bird bath, decorative pond, or a ranch's water trough.

It may seem like the Inca Dove's appreciation for more modern convenience is due to laziness or softness, but don't let this fool you! These tough little birds are capable of surviving temperatures of 20 degrees and below by roosting in a pyramid-shaped pile up to 3 doves high! While they are quite fond of the frequent water sources humans provide, they used to help the humans find water sources, instead! Although Inca doves can go up to 5 days without drinking and fly up to 10 miles in search of water, they like to dive straight down toward water, and people used to follow them in flight so they could share the source of water. This ability to survive summers where water is scarce while also adapted to the cold is likely why they do not feel the need to migrate, rarely moving far from their nesting grounds.

If you are wondering how to identify the Inca Dove, they are easily recognizable by their scaly appearance, with darker grey outlining their lighter grey feathers, the chestnut-colored underside of their wings, and their red eyes, which turn brighter red when they feel threatened.

As always, we would love to hear from you about your experiences and pictures of these awesome birds, and to learn more about the Inca Dove, please visit https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/incadove/

📷 Photo credits to Van Remsen, Graham Montgomery, Tony Leukering

08/10/2026

🦕DOUG. We’re trying to promote a race here.

Apparently 113 million years of extinction did NOT teach this Sauroposeidon proper photobombing etiquette.

But since Doug has your attention…

The 13th Annual Friends of Government Canyon Recharge Run is coming November 7! Run the 8K or 15K on the beautiful trails of Government Canyon State Natural Area - Texas Parks and Wildlife and help support the Friends’ work to protect and preserve this incredible place.

Doug has been training.

We use the word training very loosely.

You, however, should probably sign up.

Click the link below or scan that QR code before Doug blocks that too. 😆

https://runsignup.com/Race/TX/SanAntonio/FriendsofGovernmentCanyon15K8KRechargeRun

RUN AMONGST THE FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS.
Some of whom apparently have zero respect for personal space.

It looks like a bumper crop of wild grapes this year! At least 3 species of grape can be found at Government Canyon. The...
08/09/2026

It looks like a bumper crop of wild grapes this year! At least 3 species of grape can be found at Government Canyon. These are most likely Heller's Grape (Vitis cinerea var. helleri) or Sweet Mountain Grape (Vitis monticola). They are edible, and people have used them for food thousands of years. They can be eaten raw, dried, or made into jams or jellies. One must wait til they're ripe and sweet, (purple or black in color)...and remember no collecting is allowed at Government Canyon. Here, we leave them for the wildlife!

This morning at Chilling With Spiders we ate popsicles, read a story about learning to love spiders, looked around the A...
08/08/2026

This morning at Chilling With Spiders we ate popsicles, read a story about learning to love spiders, looked around the Amphitheater for spiders and webs, and created our own crafty spiders. Then ate more popsicles (hey, it's hot out there!). Did you miss it? Check our event calendar for our next Reading Ranger, as well as other guided hikes and programs for all ages: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/government-canyon/park_events

08/07/2026

It's getting hot, folks! Not just for park visitors but for critters too. Earlier this year, we set up a small wildlife observation station at the Visitor Center on the way to the Backcountry Trailhead. Raccoons, deer, ravens, vultures, and many songbirds have already been spotted at the water source - all potential targets for New World Screwworm (NWS), a hot topic in the news lately. Since State Parks and Natural Areas represent a big chunk of wildlife habitats in Texas, many park rangers are now joining in a statewide monitoring effort through the use of trail cameras.

Our little watering station checked all the necessary boxes, so it is now doubling as an NWS monitoring site. So far we are relieved to find no signs of infection here at Government Canyon. You can learn more about NWS (and view an interactive map) at the Texas Animal Health Commission website here: https://www.tahc.texas.gov/emergency/nws.html.

Be sure to swing by the viewing station next time you visit us and record your observations on the nearby clipboard!

Happy Wildlife Wednesday! This week, in honor of the many cool specimens our rangers have spotted around the Visitor Cen...
08/05/2026

Happy Wildlife Wednesday! This week, in honor of the many cool specimens our rangers have spotted around the Visitor Center and Fee Booth over the last few weeks, we are going to take a look at the Carolina Mantis, the most common Preying Mantis in our area.

The word "praying" may have been chosen for the praying mantis's name because of how they hold their forelegs together when at rest as in prayer, the word "preying" is likely more accurate. These peaceful-looking insects are nearly perfect predators who take on any prey they can get their serrated, pocketknife-like forelegs on. With a neck-like thorax longer than that of a typical insect, mantids can rotate their head 180° in either direction. Added to their 2 large compound eyes, this gives the mantis a nearly 360° view as they lie in wait for their next meal. Once they spot their prey, mantids have some of the fastest reflexes in the insect world, able to launch fast enough to grab flying moths and mosquitos, or grasshoppers mid-hop, before using the serrations on their nimble and powerful forelegs to hold their prey still.

These small but mighty insects are definitely admirable for their hunting skill, especially if you consider tropical mantids taking down prey as big as hummingbirds, but they are merely considered "nearly perfect" for a reason. The Carolina Mantis, like all mantids, is highly indiscriminate about their food. While scientists have recently decided that female mantids do not always eat males in the wild, with ample food available, mantids can sometimes be cannibals. Newly hatched nymphs are especially likely to eat each other, but luckily, females usually lay eggs 300 at a time! Another point against mantids is that they will eat other beneficial insects as well as pests, though this is less common with our native Carolina Mantis than invasive mantids like the Chinese Mantis.

As always, we would love to see your stories and photos of the amazing praying mantis in the comments! To learn more, please visit https://texasinsects.tamu.edu/praying-mantis/

📷photo credits to Meredith Sanders and Andy Wilson

Do you feel...conflicted...about spiders? Then our Reading Ranger on August 8 (10 am) is perfect for you! We'll be readi...
08/03/2026

Do you feel...conflicted...about spiders? Then our Reading Ranger on August 8 (10 am) is perfect for you! We'll be reading I'm Trying to Love Spiders (by Bethany Barton), followed by a craft and a popsicle. This light-hearted story is sympathetic to both spiders (who play such an important role in our ecosystems) and the people who KNOW that but are creeped out anyway. All are welcome, but this activity is best for ages 5-10 years. Minors must be accompanied by their parent or guardian.

Details: https://tpwd.texas.gov/calendar/government-canyon/storytimes/reading-ranger-chilling-with-spiders

This time of year, where there is milkweed (in this case, Pearl Milkweed Vine) there usually will be Large Milkweed Bugs...
08/03/2026

This time of year, where there is milkweed (in this case, Pearl Milkweed Vine) there usually will be Large Milkweed Bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus). An adult is in the foreground in the first photo, and the bright orange nymphs can be seen on the milkweed seed pod behind it. Milkweed bugs feed on milkweed seeds without pulling them out of the seed pod. How? They inject saliva through the wall of the seed pod into the seeds beneath to dissolve them. They then pierce the pod with their straw-like mouthparts and suck out the resulting seed slurry.

As in Monarch butterflies, whose caterpillars feed on milkweed leaves, Large Milkweed Bugs are brightly colored to warn potential predators that they are toxic. Their bodies store the toxic glycosides from the milkweed as a potent protection.

Welcome to another Wildlife Wednesday! over the weekend, our rangers were lucky enough to watch a Bordered Patch butterf...
07/29/2026

Welcome to another Wildlife Wednesday! over the weekend, our rangers were lucky enough to watch a Bordered Patch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, completing one ranger's amazing sequence of photos detailing the life cycle of this beautiful butterfly! Of course, this means that the Bordered patch is this week's feature.

Like all butterflies, the Bordered Patch transforms from an egg all the way to a butterfly, and it is amazing how they can undergo such drastic transformations, requiring so much work, in such a short period of time. Starting with the adult butterflies, the smaller male bordered patch will often wait on hilltops, or high amongst the surrounding plants and trees, scouting for the larger females. After mating, the female will lay 100 or more eggs on the underside of one of their host plants' leaves. In our area, sunflowers and ragweeds are popular host plants. These eggs hatch about 2 weeks later, and the tiny rice grain-sized caterpillars cluster along the same leaf, eating the underside.

After hatching into caterpillars, did you know that they will sometimes hibernate, much like mammals? While bordered patch caterpillars may finish an entire lifecycle without pause, if conditions are ideal, they are also capable of hibernating in winter, or going dormant in a state called estivation in the summer. These allow them to lower their metabolisms, using very little energy when food is too scarce to match their extreme caloric needs for shedding exoskeletons in multiple "instars" (growth stages), and build the chrysalis they transform inside of. In ideal conditions, they remain in their caterpillar form for 1-1.5 months, before attaching to a solid object, as the featured caterpillars did to our Visitor Center. They remain in the chrysalis for 2-3 weeks before emerging as a butterfly. Then they need some time for their wings to dry in a safe area, and they are ready to fly.

As always, we would love to see your pictures and stories in the comments! To learn more about the Bordered Patch, please visit https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Chlosyne-lacinia

Coming up this Saturday, August 1, at 8 am: Intro to Hiking for Women. Do you want to spend more time in the beautiful T...
07/28/2026

Coming up this Saturday, August 1, at 8 am: Intro to Hiking for Women.

Do you want to spend more time in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, but are unsure how to begin? With a little planning and preparation, hiking is an activity that almost anyone can do! Absolutely ZERO experience required. We’ll spend approximately one hour learning the basics. Afterwards, you’ll test your new skills on a short and easy hike (approximately 2 miles). Open to women ages 12 and older.

Details: https://tpwd.texas.gov/calendar/government-canyon/activities-committee-events/intro-to-hiking-for-women_4/2026-08-01

Address

12861 Galm Road
San Antonio, TX
78254

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 10pm
Tuesday 7am - 8pm
Wednesday 7am - 8pm
Thursday 7am - 8pm
Friday 7am - 10pm
Saturday 7am - 10pm
Sunday 7am - 10pm

Telephone

+12106889055

Website

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