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J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Photo: Jim Mathisen (USFWS) / Public domain · source

Gardens & wildlife

J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Sanibel, FL · Southwest Florida$Wildlife Drive $10 per vehicle; visitor center free

About

On Sanibel Island, the refuge's Wildlife Drive runs one way for 4 miles with a 15 mph limit, and you can bike or walk it as well as drive. Go at low tide on any day but Friday, when the Drive and the Indigo Trail are closed. Alligators and bobcats live in the Bailey Tract, a free 100-acre freshwater wetland off Tarpon Bay Road with nearly 3 miles of loop trails.

Highlights

Four-mile Wildlife DriveRoseate spoonbills and wading birdsOver 245 bird speciesFree Bailey Tract trailsPaddling with Tarpon Bay Explorers

Getting there

1 Wildlife Dr, Sanibel, FL 33957

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Best Florida Wildlife

Go in winter if you can. Manatees crowd the warm springs from mid-November through March, and the wading birds are thickest on the same cool, dry mornings.