Heritage Loop Trail Insect Hotel in the Headwaters Sanctuary - San Antonio, TX - Insect Hotels on Waymarking.com

The Headwater Sanctuary is operated by the Headwaters At Incarnate Word and owned by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word. The sanctuary is adjacent to the University of the Incarnate Word in the Alamo Heights neighborhood of San Antonio, TX. It is only 2.5 miles from downtown San Antonio yet is as "native" as 53 acres of undeveloped land can be. Giant oak trees, many appearing to be hundreds of years old, grow within the sanctuary boundaries. One tree in particular is believed to be 600 years old. The land is dotted with many natural springs fed by the Edwards Aquifer waters during the rainy seasons. The largest of these springs within the Headwaters Sanctuary is named the "Blue Hole" and is the designated source of the San Antonio River! The wooded acres offer habitat to a variety of birds, insects, amphibians and small wild animals. Deer do visit the sanctuary but are not established within it.

The Heritage Loop Trail is the trail that begins from the entrance to the Headwaters Sanctuary and goes into the main body of the 53 acre sanctuary. Small trailheads along the Heritage Loop Trail allow visitors to change over onto different trails. The featured Insect Hotel is on an inner edge of the Heritage Loop Trail close to where a nexus with the Olmos Park Trail and the Great Oak Trail converge. This is around the northeast corner of the Loop.

The Insect Hotel is made of weather resistant plywood and boards, with a brown corrugated plastic panel used as roofing. Half-inch wire mesh is used across the front of this large rectangular box and wood boards are used inside the box to form a series of shelves, cubes. and other enclosures in which or on which various types of circular materials like bamboo or rolled cardboard tubes are set or stacked. Some natural pieces of various wood cut in irregular shapes are also included in the various habitat spaces designed into the shelves. All parts of this Insect Hotel are untreated and unpainted wood or organic materials. The overall enclosure is about 8 x 4 feet and is at least 8 inchesdeep. Close inspection of some of the bamboo tubes indicate that some insects have formed nests or cocoons for larva to grow in. From the "fresh" looks of the wood used to construct this Insect Hotel, it has not been in place for very long, yet the local fauna have already benefited from it already.

Link showing overlay of the various Trails within the Headwaters Sanctuary:
(visit link)
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Date Logged Log   02/03/2020 WayBetterFinder visited it