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Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

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Best Birding Sites in Florida

The destinations we consider the best places for birding in Florida. Whenever we’ve visited these, we’ve always seen multiple species and had opportunities for great bird photos.

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

Summer storm on the marshes at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

Boynton Beach      ( 26.498420, -80.212604 )      

At the edge of Boynton Beach, where historic farmlands have given way to subdivisions, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is a 145,000 acre buffer between suburbia and the Everglades

Big Cypress National Preserve

Big Cypress orchid

Big Cypress      ( 25.857244, -81.034255 )      

Protecting nearly three quarters of the million-acre Big Cypress Swamp, Big Cypress National Preserve is Florida’s largest and most remote wilderness.

Big Lagoon State Park

Big Lagoon boardwalk

Pensacola      ( 30.321489,-87.403733 )      

At Big Lagoon State Park, enjoy exploring the sweep of coastal forest and wetlands along one of Florida’s largest lagoons

Biking Pine Island Conservation Area

Pelicans on Pine Island Creek

December 20, 2020    John Keatley

Within sight of the massive Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, this ride to the Indian River Lagoon offers some of the best birding you’ll do by bike.

Black Point Wildlife Drive

Cars parked along a mangrove marsh

Merritt Island NWR  |  Titusville
( 28.657507, -80.754484 )      7.0 miles

Winding along a narrow dirt road, Black Point Wildlife Drive offers from-your-car birding in the marshes and mud flats of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Bronson Northeast Loop

Orange blaze in dense woods

Bronson State Forest  |  Christmas
( 28.5698, -80.9966 )      7.5 miles

Using Orlando Wetlands Park to access the northeast corner of Bronson State Forest, this 7.5-mile loop burrows deeply into ancient forests in the St. Johns River floodplain.

Canaveral National Seashore

Turtle Mound view

New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill, Titusville      ( 28.927280, -80.823819 )      

Canaveral National Seashore protects 58,000 acres of maritime hammocks, dunes, and coastline surrounding Cape Canaveral, a natural sandy cape that formed where ocean currents meet.

Carlton Reserve

Carlton Reserve

Venice      ( 27.1283, -82.3345 )      1.9 miles

T. Mabry Carlton Reserve is less than a dozen miles from downtown Venice but wild enough that the Florida panther roams these woodlands along the Myakka River floodplain.

Cherokee Point Conservation Area

Boardwalk through cattails

St. Cloud      ( 28.22891, -81.36687 )      1.0 miles

Protecting a marshy peninsula on the eastern shore of Lake Tohopekaliga, this remote preserve provides a panorama of natural wetlands from its boardwalk.

Circle B Bar Reserve

Wetlands at Circle B Bar Reserve

Lakeland      ( 27.989618,-81.857654 )      3.5 miles

For fabulous birding and more alligators than you can count, roam the marshy edge of Lake Hancock on miles of causeways through Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

boardwalk to big cypresses in Corkscrew

Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed  |  Naples
( 26.375724, -81.603725 )      2.3 miles

Weaving beneath a canopy knit by old-growth cypress trees in a majestic swamp forest, the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is one of Florida’s best hikes

Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Ding Darling NWR

Sanibel Island      ( 26.445460, -82.112938 )      

Preserving more than half of Sanibel Island for the sake of its bird life, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is one of the top places in the United States to view rare bird species.

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