National Butterfly Center

After straightening out some familial confusion about where we were actually going to look at butterflies, some of us ended up here, while others just went home. I’m glad we stuck around, though, on a drizzly, slightly chilly day.
First off, it’s a nonprofit organization that is NOT affiliated with Bentsen State Park and the World Birding Center, so if you want to do both, you have to pay for both, separately. That was part of our familial confusion, so I thought I’d just throw that out there.
It’s been updated/​finished since the previous review and pictures, the front area now has a small pond with water lilies and, allegedly, a turtle, which I never saw. The building houses a nice gift shop and a lot of information about what to look for in the butterfly gardens. Behind the building there were several areas with different local, flowering plants to attract the butterflies. We didn’t see a WHOLE lot of them because of the weather, but my friend (visiting from Wisconsin with a degree in entomology) was very excited by the ones we did see.
There’s a long trail through a slightly wooded area to take you to the second portion of the butterfly center, but we opted to drive, again because of the weather. This other area houses a caterpillary, a butterfly greenhouse of sorts (where you can walk through and maybe they’ll land on you), and, my favorite, Spike, the African Spurred Tortoise. This area also hosted large, butterfly attracting bushes. There were a couple people there that were VERY excited about a butterfly they saw the day before, and they were itching for a glimpse of it again (not sure what type). I had a hard time dragging myself away from watching Spike, who was pacing along the fence back and forth, like he was on some sort of tortoise mission. It took everything I had to not reach over and touch him.
Anyway, I can see how this place could be amazing at the right time of year, I’d consider another visit. Maybe even just to see Spike.

The inside of the building is nice with a gift shop, informative displays and friendly employees, but the exterior looks uninviting like it has either closed down or isn’t quite finished. There is a trail, which is really just a path cut through the tree-​line at the edge of a field. It’s not really marked too well. There are also a few beds of flowers. I guess I expected more butterfly-​attracting flowers and and plants and assumed the trail would have been more than just a generic path through a tree-​line. It looked like they were starting construction on what I would guess/​hope is a butterfly house which would be a nice addition.
We did see some butterflies — mostly in the front beds and on the hanging feeders — but not nearly what you would expect. There is an informative display under the pavilion that has pictures and descriptions of different types of butterflies and indicates which species of butterflies have been seen here which is pretty cool.
We did enjoy our visit, although I don’t think it was impressive enough that I would drive an hour to bring guests out there. I would be curious to see what it is like at another time of year and might check it out again if I am in the area.