Some people call it America’s Riviera. Ray Cole calls it “this piece of paradise.” When visiting Alabama’s Gulf Coast, the McLean resident’s family builds castles in the soft, sugar-white sand, swims and goes bird watching.

This key segment of the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail includes Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Gulf Shores. Birders have spotted 370 species in this critical migratory flyway stopover for neotropical birds from Central and South America. Bon Secour, which translates to “safe haven,” spans 7,000 acres on the Fort Morgan peninsula bordered by beaches and bays. The refuge’s maritime forests, marshes and pristine beaches support such species as the piping plover, ruby-throated hummingbird, American alligator and endangered Alabama beach mouse, that feeds on sea oats and burrows in coastal dunes, said park ranger Lillian Falco.