Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, National Wildlife Refuge in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge covers 7,157 acres in five units on the Fort Morgan Peninsula in Baldwin and Mobile Counties, directly west of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Its habitats are beaches and sand dunes, the western part of Little Lagoon, scrub forest, fresh and saltwater marshes, freshwater swamps and uplands. The Perdue unit is the most developed, with four trails; a gravel road runs past low brush and dry grass, and palmetto scrub grows on white sand.

Congress established this refuge in 1980 to protect habitats for migrating songbirds and endangered species. This decision marked the start of focused protection for the region's diverse habitats and wildlife.

The name is French for "safe harbor", given by early settlers to the sheltered waters of the Bon Secour River before the refuge existed. Today the same name covers a resting and feeding stop for migratory birds, where roughly 400 species have been recorded, from ospreys and herons to seven kinds of hummingbirds.

The Perdue unit offers four main walking trails totaling about 8 kilometers, including Pine Beach Trail, Jeff Friend Trail, Gator Lake Trail, and Centennial Trail. These paths lead through varied landscapes and allow visitors to explore different ecosystems within the refuge.

The refuge is home to more than 400 bird species and provides critical habitat for the Alabama beach mouse, found nowhere else on Earth. This mouse species is so rare and tied to these coastal dunes that it holds special importance for conservationists.