Martin

At the back of this ballpark are nature trails winding through xeric oak hammock, down to the edge of the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. This site is worth checking in migration, as well as in winter, for roving mixed feeding flocks of songbirds like Northern Parulas and Black-and-white Warblers. The trail system is extensive, so stick to the river trails where birds are most likely to follow the ecotone between habitat types.

This rustic site offers miles of trails through pine flatwoods frequented by Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, and along an extensive marsh used by Sandhill Cranes and endangered Wood Storks. At the parking area, check the canal for waterbirds and then explore the trail system, keeping an eye peeled for roaming flocks of songbirds like Pine Warblers. Eastern Phoebes and Great Crested Flycatchers ply their trade from fence posts and high perches, in season.

This refuge has two very different access points for exploration. At the Headquarters on US 1, trails wind through coastal scrub down to a sugar sand beach, lined with mangroves at the Intracoastal Waterway, where you can watch for waders like Yellow-crowned Night Herons, soaring Osprey and foraging Least Terns overhead. In the scrub in October and April, listen for songbirds like Black-throated Blue Warblers foraging just prior to departing on, or just after returning from their long overwater migrations.

There are birds to see year-round at this extensive property, but the experience is most comfortable in the cooler weather months. Regardless, the site offers miles of trails through flatwoods and scrub (ask at the ranger station for Florida Scrub-Jay locations). It also includes a boat concession at the Loxahatchee River, where you can take a guided motorboat tour, or rent a canoe for yourself. The upper reaches of the river are intimate and secluded, offering good opportunities for good looks at Little Blue Herons, Least Bitterns and wintering Northern Waterthrushes.

This Martin County Environmental Land offers a nice mosaic of habitats like scrub and wet prairie, punctuated with bayheads. These ecotones between habitat types can be particularly productive birding for wintering songbirds. Be sure to check the pine snags in the eastern scrub area for woodpeckers and hawks, and the mangrove edge along the North Trail for waders.

This unconventional conservation site is a narrow strip of tropical hardwood hammock with a 6-mile trail sandwiched between expansive sugar cane fields to the east and the cleared area of the Herbert Hoover Dike to the west. This small forested ridge is thought to be the historic shoreline of Lake Okeechobee before the dike’s construction, and contains large, old trees that offer a glimpse of what this area might have looked like 100 years ago.

This site is a pocket of hammock and sand pine scrub surrounded by suburban development. Its shady live oak-hickory canopy is blanketed in resurrection fern, and one look is all you need to understand why migrants like Northern Parula, Black-and-white and Yellow-throated Warblers take refuge here. The understory is healthy, native and just open enough to tempt you to look for skulking thrushes and Ovenbirds.

A linear trail departs from the NE corner of the parking lot and crosses seven habitat types from mesic flatwoods all the way down to tidal swamp at the Intracoastal Waterway. This site is worth a quick look, especially in migration, for its ease of access and diversity of habitats. Watch for migrants like skulking Swainson’s Warblers, just-arrived in the spring, and solitary waterbirds like Spotted Sandpipers in winter at the water’s edge.

Only accessible by boat, this park offers one of the most remote beach experiences left in this part of the state. It occupies the northern end of the peninsula (Jupiter Island), which it shares with Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge. Boardwalks through the mangroves can be good for Mangrove Cuckoos in summer and migrants in fall and winter. The beach is pristine and offers a stark contrast to the development of Hutchinson Island to the north across the inlet.