Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

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Gulf Shores, AL
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 mil

es 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.

09/01/2026

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)

08/19/2026

With the Great Southeast Pollinator survey this weekend we are looking at a pollinator you might come across for Wildlife Wednesday this week, the Long-tailed Skipper!

Long-tailed Skippers can be found year-round in Southern Texas and Florida, but when summer hits they venture all around the Southern U.S. even going as far north as Illinois and New York. Long-tailed Skippers typically inhabit brushy fields, woodland edges, coastal dunes, and suburban gardens. They do not tolerate cold well, so you will not usually find any at high elevations. These skippers have a wingspan of around 4 to 5 cm, iridescent green backs, and their wings and underside are light brown with dark bands and spots.

They have a wide variety of leguminous host plants they will lay their eggs on. The larva of this species is yellowish green with a black line down its back with a large maroon and black head. Once the caterpillars hatch, they will hide under small flaps of leaves they have chewed, folded and secured with silk. The adult form of the long-tailed skipper is a frequent garden visitor, but they are also known as erratic flyers with an unpredictable flight path so keep your eyes peeled to spot one!

Photo Description
Photo 1: side profile of a long-tailed skipper resting on a yellow flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: back of a long-tailed skipper resting on a yellow flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)

Sources
https://alabama.butterflyatlas.usf.edu/species/details/149/long-tailed-skipper
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Urbanus_proteus/

08/17/2026

This week is the Great Southeast Pollinator Census on August 21st and 22nd! The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is a citizen science project created by the University of Georgia to document pollinators occurring at plants to help with pollinator conservation.

Pollinators populations around the world are in decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, pesticides, parasites, diseases, and climate change. Pollinators are essential for the health of our ecosystems and food crops. Almost 80% of our food crops require pollination by wildlife. Pollination occurs when wildlife, water, or wind carries pollen from flower to flower or within flowers. Pollinators transfer pollen in and between flowers of the same plant species that leads to fertilization, successful seed development, and fruit production.

Without pollinators, humans and all the earth’s terrestrial life would not survive. You can help pollinators by participating in the Great Southeast Pollinator Census! The first step is to choose a favorite pollinator plant for counting. This can be any blooming plant that shows insect activity. Next using the pollinator counting sheet, you will categorize any insects that land on the plant you are observing for 15 minutes.

You can find more information on how to count pollinators, insect identification guide, counting sheets, and where to upload counting sheets for the Great Southeast Pollinator Census at the following link: https://gsepc.org/
You can also visitor the refuge visitor center to get pollinator counting sheets and more information on how to do the pollinator census.

If you would like to do the pollinator census at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, we recommend the Jeff Friend Trail. Currently the Jeff Trail has blanket flower, partridge pea, beggarticks, butterfly pea, saltmarsh mallow, and scarlet calamint blooming along the trail. There are also a few hibiscus and mourning glory species blooming near the observation tower at the Chan West Pine Beach Trail.

Source:
https://home.nps.gov/subjects/pollinators/pollinators-in-trouble.htm
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt-planting-for-pollinators.htm
https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildflowers/pollinators/importance

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Saltmarsh mallow flower Kosteletzkya pentacarpos (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: Sweat bee species on saltmarsh mallow flower (Gabby Dunham)

08/14/2026

This week for Flora Friday we are looking at dodder! Dodder, Cuscuta species, is a parasitic twining plant with thread-like yellow or orange stems that lacks chlorophyll.

There are around 150 species worldwide and 50 in North America. Dodder species are completely dependent on a host plant for their nutrition and water uptake. The flowers of dodders are generally small with white, almost translucent petals fused into a bowl-like corolla.

The seeds germinate on the ground and quickly send up a stem that begins searching for a host plant to parasitize. Dodder species do not produce roots and need to quickly reach a host before using up the reserve of nutrients in its seed. The seeds will only survive and germinate when they are close enough to a host plant. Researchers have discovered that the young dodder is attracted to a host plant based on odor or by the amount of light reflected off the host plant’s leaves.

Dodder species produce two types of specialized stems called haustoria, that will pe*****te the stems of the host plant. One form of haustorium will tap into the host’s water conducting xylem, while the other type will surround the food-carrying phloem. Dodder species may parasitize a single species or several different types of host plants. You can find dodder along the Chan West Pine Beach Trail!

Source:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/cuscuta_pentagona.shtml
https://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/nature/dodder-story.htm

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Close up of open and closed dodder flowers and yellow stems wrapped around host plant (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: View of whole dodder plant on many host plants (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Dodder with flowers starting to open (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 4: Dodder stems wrapped around host plant (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 5: View of whole dodder plant sprawled onto many host plants (Gabby Dunham)

08/12/2026

This week for Wildlife Wednesday we are looking at the Little Blue Heron!

Little blue herons are found across the Americas, but are concentrated mostly in the Southeast. They are fairly small herons and unique from many others having distinct color morphs depending on their age! Juveniles are completely white and can be mistaken for snowy egrets. As the little blue heron goes from juvenile to immature, they have a mix of dark blue and white feathers. Adults are completely dark, with a maroon head and neck and slate blue body they can often be hard to spot. One key characteristic that can help you tell little blue herons from any of their look-a-likes is their long green legs.

Similar to other herons, they are stand and wait predators. You can often spot them in fresh, salty and brackish waters watching and slowly walking trying to grab fish, crustaceans and frogs.

Photo Descriptions:
Photo 1: Two juvenile little blue herons standing in a tree (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: An adult little blue heron standing on a stump in a wetland (M.Nichols)

Sources:
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/libher/cur/introduction
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Little_Blue_Heron/id

08/07/2026

This Flora Friday, we will be looking at scarlet calamint! Scarlet calamint, Clinopodium coccineum, is an evergreen shrub in the mint family with wiry stems and long tubular flowers.

The small elliptic to ovate leaves are mildly aromatic when crushed. The flowers are two-lipped and scarlet with darker red spots. The upper lip of the flower is two lobed and the bottom lip is three lobed. Scarlet calamint may bloom year-round, but peaks in summer months. The type of fruit is a nutlet.

Scarlet calamint can be found in dunes, scrub oak woods, sandhills, and on sandy roadsides. Scarlet calamint is used by many pollinators including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. You can find scarlet calamint blooming along the Chan West Pine Beach Trail!

Source:
https://www.fnps.org/plant/calamintha_coccinea .tab=0
http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=2387
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CLCO10

Photo Description:
Photo 1: Close up of flower showing darker red spots on lower lip (Gabby Dunham)
Photo 2: Multiple flowers showing front of one flower and long tubular side of another flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)
Photo 3: Upper view of flower (USFWS/Gabby Dunham)

Address

12295 State Highway 180
Gulf Shores, AL
36542

Telephone

+12515407720

Website

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

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