Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

Lying along a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay, the six units of Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge consists of varied coastal habitat including changing sand dunes. Here one can find such interesting species as the endangered Alabama beach mouse, loggerhead sea turtles and gopher tortoises (also endangered), and American alligators—once considered endangered but now recovered. Here, too are brown pelicans, ospreys, and several heron species. And in mid-October, monarch butterflies by the hundreds can be seen in the milkweeds along Pine Beach Trail, drawing sustenance to continue on their trek to Mexico and Central America.