Find Your Flock Here

Grab your cameras and binoculars to start your coastline birding journey – that's the way to beach.

Whether you're looking to spot Great Crested Flycatchers songbirds or migrants like Blackburnian Warbler and Dark-eyed Junco – get your journal ready. Between those spottings, you can marvel at the eagles, ospreys, and herons that fill our skies.

Pensacola – home to many native birds – sits between two major fly zones on the longest stretch of protected seashore in the country. Gulf Islands National Seashore along both Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key provides the first stop for hundreds of migrating birds flying north in the spring.

Our area connects to the bigger birding world with 10 locations along the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. This Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trail boasts a network of 510 premier wildlife viewing sites across the state.

The following Birding Trail locations are currently closed to the public: Naval Air Station, Trout Point, and Project Green Shores.

Get some insider insights

EXPLORE THE GREAT FLORIDA BIRDING & WILDLIFE TRAIL

We’re lucky to be located under the bird superhighway, the Atlantic Flyway that stretches 3,000 miles from the Caribbean to the Arctic tundra on which a kaleidoscope of amazing birds migrates to and from their wintering grounds.

Make Way for Sea Turtles in Pensacola

It’s an amazing time of year again on the shorelines of Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands National Seashore (GINS). Sea turtle hatchling season is in full swing all over Florida, where about 90 percent of sea turtle nesting in the U.S. takes place.

5 Places to See Dolphins in Pensacola

Spotting dolphins in the wild are on the top of the sand-bucket lists of many Pensacola Bay Area visitors.

Hiking Scenic Pensacola

Let me guess, you brought some hiking shoes along to the beach and you’re expecting to make a 2-hour trip to get to the nearest place with a secluded trail, woods or a quiet waterway. Well, you and your hiking shoes are in luck.