As a wildlife refuge, it should come as no surprise that\u00a0St. Marks offers remarkable wildlife and birdwatching. Many Florida species can be found at this expansive park, including over 52 mammal species, 40 amphibian species, and 66 reptile species. It’s common for guests to seek out\u00a0alligators, river otters, deer, bobcats, bears, turtles, raccoons, and wild hogs. Visitors can even spot rare and endangered Florida species here, including the West Indian manatee, the flatwoods salamander, the whooping crane,\u00a0and the\u00a0swallow-tailed kite, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over\u00a0300 bird species have been sighted\u00a0at the\u00a0St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, making it one of the best destinations in Florida for birdwatching<\/a> along the Great Florida Birding Trail.\u00a0The region is a reprieve for migratory birds that flock to the state during cooler months, which causes a flourishing mix of native Florida birds and limited-time migrating species. Birdwatchers can find many species of ducks, geese, woodpeckers, bald eagles, hawks, wild turkeys, egrets, herons, storks, warblers, osprey, waterfowl, falcons,\u00a0owls, and various songbirds. “The drive through the expansive park was gorgeous … [and] lots of folks [were] out birding,”\u00a0one Google<\/a> reviewer noted.<\/p>\n St. Marks also offers freshwater and saltwater fishing.\u00a0Anglers can cast lines in several\u00a0rivers, 2,000 acres of man-made pools, and even the\u00a0Apalachee Bay,\u00a0roughly 32,000 acres<\/a> of which lie within the refuge’s boundaries. Bank and saltwater fishing are open year-round with a proper Florida fishing license, with boat access points for those wanting to fish in the bay.\u00a0Some of the most commonly caught fish in the refuge include sea\u00a0bass, catfish, sunfish, trout, mullet, mackerel, flounder, red drum, and even sharks. Crabbing is also permitted, but only near the lighthouse. One Google<\/a> user shared a charming fishing anecdote: “Watching a bald eagle fly off with a speckled trout as I was reeling in a speckled trout myself was a highlight of the visit.”\u00a0More local fishing can be found at Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve, Florida’s top sea life preserve<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a wildlife refuge, it should come as no surprise that\u00a0St. Marks offers remarkable wildlife and birdwatching. Many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-330817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}