Bunton Branch is a small intermittent tributary of Plum Creek in Kyle. While researching Plum Creek, I learned that there are 166 streams in the United States with that name.

A bit downstream from where I took these photos, there is a historical marker on the Bunton Branch Bridge. The bridge is the oldest concrete bridge in Hays County. It’s part of the Old Austin-San Antonio Post Road. I’ll cover it in a future post.

I’ve driven over the Bunton Branch hundreds of time but have never stopped to photograph it. I’m glad I did. An intermittent creek is also known as a wet-weather creek, but Bunton Branch usually has some water in it and today there was quite a bit of water.

I hiked down from the road and headed south. The stream has two distinct channels. The one you see here is the main channel. The stream is about 2 or 3 feet wide and about a foot deep. You can see the ground sloping up about 4 feet before it levels off and I think this is how high the water gets when the stream is carrying much more water.

If you look closely, there’s an egret in the middle of the photo. At this point, I’m still pretty far away and it’s ignoring me. I found some neat fossil shells in the exposed limestone bank on the left.

Bunton Branch

I decided to get closer to the egret but it wouldn’t have it. I wonder what the threshold is? Whatever it is, the egret flew away as I approached.

Egret Over Bunton Branch