Highlights:
- Well maintained park with paved walking paths
- Mix of open prairie and wooded wetland
- Hilltop view of the city of New Braunfels
Trail Length:
-Over 2 miles of connected trails
The Location
Fischer Park is a city park that is built around nature, but is also popular with joggers, dog walkers, and families with children. It gets its name from the Fischer family, who first owned the property in 1946 and sold it to the city of New Braunfels in 2007.
Construction to create the current day park began in 2013 and completed soon after. It now features fishing ponds, a nature education center, 30 acres of restored blackland prairie, and a small water park for kids.
There are two parking lots, which are right next to each other but, oddly, are not connected. One is accessed from McQueeney Road by turning onto Hilltop Summit, the other from County Line Road by turning at the large sign that reads “Fischer Park”. Google Maps will automatically route you to the County Line Road entrance, which works just fine.
Birding Recommendations
The main birding attractions here are the prairie, which is divided into the north and south section. The trail for the north section makes a simple .5 mile loop beginning and ending at the top of the hill at the parking lot.
The south section slopes downward until it meets the ponds. The ponds themselves with their surrounding medium sized trees are the other main habitat feature of this park.
Take the northern loop if you have the time, or if you have less than an hour then just take the south loop to the ponds.
Watch the taller shrubs for perching birds like sparrows in the winter, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in the summer, and Loggerhead Shrike year round. The open prairie can also be a good place to spot raptors. Red-shouldered Hawk is a regular here.
The ponds will often have a few Pied-billed Grebes on the water and sometimes small numbers of ducks. The warmer months will bring Green Heron and Yellow-crowned Night Heron around the water edge.
Most of the bird activity around the water will be in the trees. Groups of Huisache are common and can be very productive, it’s worth looking carefully as you walk past them. In May during spring migration these trees can be good for migrating empidonax flycatchers like Eastern Wood-Pewee, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and Least Flycatcher.
There is at least one resident Zone-tailed Hawk in central New Braunfels that will sometimes make an appearance at this park, so double check all flyover Turkey Vultures and you may be rewarded.
Happy Birding!
