Beidler Forest is the world’s largest virgin cypress-tupelo swamp forest — a pristine ecosystem untouched for millennia.  Wildlife here are plentiful and varied, including:

Birds

• Barred Owl (year-round)
• Brown Creeper (winter)
• Hermit Thrush (winter)
• Hooded Warbler (spring/summer/fall)
• Kinglets (Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned — winter)
• Northern Parula (spring/summer)
• Prothonotary Warbler (spring/summer)
• Red-shouldered Hawk (year-round)
• Swallow-tailed Kite (spring/summer)
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron (spring/summer)
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (spring/summer)
• Winter Wren (winter)
• White Ibis (late spring/summer/fall)
• Woodpeckers (Pileated, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker — year-round)
• Vireos (White-eyed and Red-eyed — spring/summer/fall.  Blue-headed — winter)
• And more . . . .

Check out a complete list of recent bird sitings here.

Mammals

• Bats (nine species, including the declining Big-eared Bat, can be seen on night walks)
• Bobcat
• Gray Squirrel
• Long-Tailed Weasel
• Marsh Rabbit
• Nine-banded Armadillo (a non-native species)
• Raccoon
• Red Fox
• River Otter
• Virginia Opossum
• White-tailed Deer
• And more . . . .

Reptiles & Amphibians

• American Alligator
• Banded Watersnake
• Bronze Frog
• Brown Watersnake
• Eastern Cottonmouth
• Eastern Mud Turtle
• Greenish Rat Snake
• Spotted Turtle
• Yellow-bellied Slider
• And more . . . .

Spiders & Insects

• Dark Fishing Spider
• Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
• Great Blue Skimmer Dragonfly
• Marbled Orbweaver
• Red-femured Orbweaver
• Tussock Moth Caterpillars
• And more . . . .

This is just a small sampling of the wildlife we see at Beidler Forest.   Please come explore for yourself!

Photo Gallery

Red-bellied Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster) Photo: Mark Musselman

White Tailed Deer fawn (Odocoileus virginianus) Photo: Mark Musselman

Bobcat kittens (Lynx rufus) Photo: Mark Musselman

Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) Photo: Mark Musselman

Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) Photo: Mark Musselman

Bronze Frog (Lithobates clamitans clamitans) Photo: Mark Musselman

Prothonotary Warbler eggs Photo: Mark Musselman

Water Moccasin/Eastern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) Photo: Mark Musselman

Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina) on Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia) Photo: Mark Musselman

Photo: Mark Musselman

Photo: Mark Musselman

Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus) Photo: Mark Musselman

Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) (background), Eastern Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) (foreground) Photo: Mark Musselman

Photo: Mark Musselman

Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) Photo: Mark Musselman

Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) Photo: Mark Musselman

Red Maple (Acer rubrum) seeds Photo: Mark Musselman

White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) Photo: Mark Musselman

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