Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

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Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

For the official source of information about Bon Secour NWR go to: www.fws.gov/refuge/Bon_Secour/ CST. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Our small visitor contact station is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Our trails and beach access locations are open from sunrise until sunset 7 days a week. All trails remain open, however, the Centennial boardwalks have been closed due to safety concerns. We will post updates when our boardwalks have been re-opened. Located 50 miles due west of Pensacola, Florida, and 50 miles southeast of Mobile Alabama. Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge is one of 540 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System administered by the U.S.

09/11/2026

This week for Flora Friday we will be looking at sandhill blazing star, Liatris secunda, which is currently blooming at the refuge! Sandhill blazing star is a herbeacous perennial in the sunflower family.

It occurs in dry pine forests, scrub oak woods, sand hills, roadside banks, and on dunes. The stems can reach 1 to 3 feet in length and arch. The flowers are purple and produced in heads that are arranged in dense spike-like arrays at the top of the plant. Each head contains 3 to 6 purple funnelform flowers.

Sandhill blazing stars like other Liatris species, attract many butterflies and insects. You can find sandhill blazing star blooming along the Chan West Pine Beach Trail, Mobile Street, and Burgoyne Road!

Source:
http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=861

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Sandhill blazing star flowers blooming at top of plant (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: Sandhill blazing star plant with many flower buds and a few flowers open (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Individual sandhill blazing star flower head with unopen flower buds (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 4: Many sandhill blazing star flowers blooming with small crab spider (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 5: Side view of each sandhill blazing star flower head blooming (Gabby Dunham)

09/09/2026

This week for Wildlife Wednesday we are checking out the Yellow-crowned Night Heron!

Yellow-crowned night herons are common in the coastal regions of the southeast. Adults are gray with white and black face patterns and a pale-yellow crown that can be difficult to spot. Juveniles look very similar to juvenile black-crowned night herons, but yellow-crowned have longer legs, all black bills, and small pale spots. They have a wingspan of around 3 ft 7 ins to 3 ft 10 ins and weight 1 to 2 lbs.

You can typically find yellow-crowned night herons near water with heavy trees and brush cover nearby such as cypress swamps, mangroves, bayous, and streams. They eat mainly crustaceans like crabs and crayfish with the occasional mollusk, frog and insect. We have been spotting lots of yellow-crowned night herons around Pilot Town!

Photo Descriptions
Photo 1: An adult yellow-crowned night heron perched on a dead branch
( Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: A juvenile yellow-crowned night heron wading through the water (Gabby Dunham)

Information Source: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-crowned-night-heron

09/08/2026

UPDATE: Our phone line is back up and running! Contact us at 251-540-7720 if you have any questions.

09/04/2026

This week for Flora Friday we are looking at American beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, which is currently in fruit on the refuge! American beautyberry is a perennial shrub in the mint family with large ovate leaves, clusters of small purple berries, and small pink flowers.

American beautyberry forms a dense shrub that can reach 15 feet in height. It blooms May through July. The flowers attract many butterfly species. The seeds and berries are important food for Northern bobwhite quail and consumed by over 40 songbird species. Deer will also eat foliage of the plant.

The leaves contain two compounds, callicarpenal and intermedeol, that research has shown acts as an insect repellant. American beautyberry occurs in live oak and maritime woods, pine woods, bottomlands, swamp edges, and coastal woodlands. In periods of prolonged summer drought, plants may temporarily defoliate and lose developing fruit. You can find American beautyberry right now along the Jeff Friend Trail and Chan West Pine Beach Trail!

Source
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=caam2
http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=3669

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Small pink flower clusters (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: Close up of purple berry cluster (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Ovate leaves and purple berries along stem (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 4: View of full plant with purple berries (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)

09/02/2026

For wildlife Wednesday we are checking out the Eastern Glass Lizard! These legless lizards can often be mistaken for snakes, but they have movable eyelids and external ear openings which snakes do not have.

Eastern glass lizards are found throughout the Southeast in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont region. They tend to hang out in pine flatwoods but can be found in some wetter habitats like edges of wetlands and marshes. Eastern glass lizards are typically greenish with dark stripes, white speckles above, and plain yellow below measuring between 18 and 43 inches. Their diet is fairly wide, consisting of spiders, insects, crabs, snails, and small mammals. Sometimes they even eat other glass lizards!

Eastern glass lizards are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day and most active in the morning, so keep your eye out for them if you are hiking any of our trails early in the day!

Photo Description
Photo 1: a Eastern glass lizard moving through leaf litter (USFWS)
Photo 2: A close up of an eastern glass lizards face (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)

Information sources
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2021/05/25/weekly-what-is-it-glass-lizard/
https://herpsofnc.org/eastern-glass-lizard/
https://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eastern-glass-lizard/

09/01/2026

August is over and we are officially done with sea turtle nesting season and on to hatchling season! In August, the refuge did not have any new nests. We finished up our nesting season with 12 nests and 13 false crawls! Even with the high tide events of Tropical Storm Bertha inundating refuge nests, we had 2 hatchling events during August. R4 and R5 both had hatchlings make it out of the nest. 72 hours after the initial hatch, we perform a nest inventory to get an idea of the hatch success of the nest. While both nests had low hatch success percentages, they are great examples of how resilient turtles can be. Both nests had heavy wash over from Tropical storm Bertha and R5 had a lot of ghost crab and ant depredation. However, some of our hatchlings still reached full development and made it to the Gulf. R4 it is estimated that 58 turtles made it to the water while R5 had 28.

As we move into September and October, we are fully in hatchling season monitoring our nests for any activity. Please keep the best practices below in mind as you are recreating on the Gulf Coast during late summer and early fall. Post hatchling washbacks can happen if you see a hatchling sea turtle on the beach, please call (866) SEA-TURT (866-732-8878).

Don’t forget the best practices for visiting the beach below!
• Fill in all holes dug in the sand: not only is it dangerous for people and first responders, but a hole can trap hatchlings as they travel to the water.
• No white light: while the refuge is closed at night to prevent any disturbance to sea turtles and other sensitive species, if you are visiting Gulf Shores or Orange Beach beaches at night or staying beach front, please use red lights and turn off non turtle friendly balcony or outside lights. White light can disorient hatchlings leading them away from the water.
• Leave only footprints: make sure to gather all your trash and beach gear when you leave! Chairs, tents, and other beach gear can create an obstacle for turtles making their way out of the nest, possibly even trapping them on the beach!
• Keep your distance: while most sea turtles hatch at night while the refuge is closed, do not disturb or walk towards a boiling nest. Hatchlings are very dark in color to protect against depredation on the beach and can be hard to see at night, if you are on Orange or Gulf shores beaches at night, please watch where you step if you are in the vicinity of a turtle nest. Post hatchling washbacks can happen, hatchlings might be found in the surf or wrack line. If you see a nesting, injured, or distressed sea turtle, hatchling, or an unmarked nest, please call (866) SEA-TURT (866-732-8878).

*Note: All sea turtle footage was obtained with approval from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under conditions not harmful to these or other sea turtles*

Photo Description
Photo 1: hatchling sea turtle making its way to the water (Share the Beach)
Photo 2: a group of 3 volunteers on the beach with the sunrise in the background (USFWS/Olivia Redman)
Photo 3: a group of volunteers nest sitting with the moon shining brightly (Share the Beach)
Photo 4: a group of volunteers nest sitting as the sun is setting (Share the Beach)

08/28/2026

This Flora Friday we will be looking at squareflower, Paronychia erecta, which is blooming now at the refuge! Squareflower is an herbaceous perennial plant with a short canopy. This is an endemic plant found in beach dunes, coastal grasslands, and scrub habitats.

Squareflower gets its name from the square to rectangle outline of the flower clusters. It flowers from March to November. The leaves and stems can range in color from purple, pink, or green. You can find squareflower in sandy areas along the Chan West Pine Beach Trail and Jeff Friend Trail!

Source:
https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/SG179

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Close up of flowers of squareflower (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: View above of whole squareflower plant (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Squareflower flowers with green and red stems (Gabby Dunham)

08/26/2026

This week we are learning about one of Bon Secour’s more secretive residents, the Bobcat!

Bobcats can be found from Mexico to southern Canada, but the majority of the population is found in the US. Bobcats are about two times the size of a domestic cat and weigh around 9 to 33 pounds. Their coat is typically buff to brown and marked with brown and black spots, allowing them to blend in with brush and other dense vegetation.

Bobcats are agile predators being able to climb trees and run up to 30 miles per hour! Typically, they hunt rabbits, but will also eat rodents, small deer, small reptiles, and low-flying birds. If you are ever on the beach and see a single line of paw prints it is likely to be a bobcat. They place their back feet in the same spot as their front feet have stepped to reduce noise when stalking their prey.

Photo description
Photo 1: Bobcat laying on the ground in some dense vegetation (USFWS)
Photo 2: Bobcat walking toward some palmettos (M. Nichols)

Source:
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/land/bobcat/
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/bobcat

08/22/2026

Today is the last day of the Great Southeast Pollinator Census! Yesterday our intern Gabby Dunham did the census for two different native plants, partridge pea and spurred butterfly pea, at the Chan West Pine Beach Trail and a census at our visitor center pollinator garden.

After the census, our intern also observed pollinators at a few other plants along the trail. During the census, our intern saw a variety of bee species, butterflies, wasps, flies, and a few other insect species. Come check out our wonderful pollinators and wildflowers blooming at the refuge! Jeff Friend Trail is our easiest trail to access if you would like to do the census at the refuge. Simply pick a flowering plant, observe the plant for 15 minutes, and list what insects you see!

For more information on how to do the pollinator census, insect species identification, data sheets, and other information about the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, check out the following website: https://gsepc.org/

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Bumble bee feeding on partridge pea flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: Sweat bee feeding on partridge pea flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Bumble bee inside a spurred butterfly pea flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 4: Spurred butterfly pea growing on palmettos (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 5: Brown-winged striped sweat bee on false rosemary (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 6: Palm seed weevil inside beach morning glory (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 7: Sweat bee on beach morning glory (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 8: Sweat bee on spiderwort flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 9: Sweat bee on marsh pink (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 10: Brown-winged striped sweat bee on cucumberleaf sunflower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)

08/21/2026

This week for Flora Friday we will be looking at swamp rosemallow! Swamp rosemallow, Hibiscus grandifloras, is a deciduous perennial wildflower in the Hibiscus family.

The flowers are large with five pale pink petals and a red center. The pale green leaves are deltoid to heart-shaped and have a velvety pubescent surface. The plant can reach 5 to 9 feet in height. It occurs in brackish and freshwater marshes, swamps, wet ruderal areas, canals, and along edges of lakes, ponds, and rivers.

Swamp rosemallow attracts a variety of pollinator insects and birds like hummingbirds. It is the larval host plant of the gray hairstreak, painted lady butterfly, common checkered skipper, tropical checkered skipper butterfly, early wood nymph moth, yellow scallop moth, io moth, and delightful bird-dropping moths. It also attracts many bees like the rose-mallow bee which is a hibiscus specialist.

You can find this flower blooming at the Jeff Friend Trail, Chan West Pine Beach Trail, and along Mobile Street! Swamp rosemallow is a great plant to observe during the Great Southeast Pollinator Census on August 21st and 22nd!

Source:
https://www.flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-muenchhusia-grandiflora/
https://www.fnps.org/plant/muenchhusia-grandiflora .tab=0
http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=2616

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Swamp rosemallow flower with five white petals and red center (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: Close up of rosemallow flower center with pollen covered pistil (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Multiple swamp rosemallow plants (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 4: Swamp rosemallow with flower buds and open flower (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 5: Swamp rosemallow plant with large flower bud, wilted flower, and deltoid shaped leaves (Gabby Dunham)

Address

12295 State Highway 180
Gulf Shores, AL
36542

Telephone

+12515407720

Website

http://www.fws.gov/bonsecour/

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