Shorebirds at Huguenot Memorial Park in Jacksonville, Florida

The Fort George Inlet Critical Wildlife Area is an 82 acre state nesting site inside Huguenot Memorial Park, closed from May 1 through August 31.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists the site in Duval County and states that it supports one of the largest nesting colonies of royal terns, laughing gulls and brown pelicans in the state. Huguenot Memorial Park is the city oceanfront park at 10980 Heckscher Drive on the north shore of the St. Johns River mouth, according to the City of Jacksonville. FWC notes that the dunes are posted closed during the nesting season, but that baby birds are often found running across the beach, so park staff may post areas outside the CWA boundary as well.

Source: FWC, Fort George Inlet CWA.

The Huguenot colony is protected by a state tool, not a city one. FWC establishes these areas under the Florida Administrative Code at locations that support significant concentrations of wildlife, and only where there is already documentation of human disturbances interfering with breeding, feeding or resting. State rule 68A-19.005 specifically prohibits dogs, vehicles, vessels and fishing within areas posted as Critical Wildlife Area, Closed to Public Access. FWC adds that each designation must be supported by the landowner, and that the boundary and closure season for each site are set in its establishment order.

Laughing gulls, royal terns, brown pelicans and sandwich terns make up the summer seabird colony, according to the City of Jacksonville.

The JaxParks page for Huguenot calls it one of the largest seabird colonies on the east coast and describes thousands of birds and their chicks on the beach each summer. FWC's focal species list for the Fort George Inlet site goes further, adding black skimmers, gull-billed terns and American oystercatchers. The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, an FWC program, describes the CWA as long designated for breeding terns and shorebirds, including occasional skimmers. Audubon Florida, writing about its own stewardship work in April 2026, said thousands of birds nest at Huguenot each year, typically at the north end of the park.

Sources: City of Jacksonville, FWC Fort George Inlet CWA and FWC Living with Beach-Nesting Shorebirds.

Two of the Huguenot nesters carry state protection. FWC lists the American oystercatcher, snowy plover, black skimmer and least tern as State-designated Threatened species under Florida's Endangered and Threatened Species Rule, so the skimmers and oystercatchers on the Fort George Inlet list fall under the strictest state category of the colony. The City adds that the baby birds in the colony are all federally protected, and its seasonal vehicle closure cites the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Huguenot allows cars on most of its seaward shoreline, so flightless chicks share the sand with vehicles every nesting season.

The City of Jacksonville states that beach driving is permitted along most of the seaward shoreline but is subject to seasonal closures for nesting, and that beach driving poses a danger to wildlife. Access to the Atlantic requires driving through extremely soft sand; the City says 4-wheel drive vehicles are highly recommended and that 2-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles should consider parking on Family Beach or in the designated parking areas. Driving on the beach is at the driver's own risk and subject to towing at the owner's expense, with no refunds. The Birding Trail adds that in summer the beach can be thoroughly packed with vehicles.

Chicks are the problem, not adults. Audubon Florida wrote in July 2024 that Huguenot's seabird chicks were spreading out from the protected area onto the beach where cars are permitted and that, unlike adult birds, they do not fly away when a vehicle approaches. Because the parking lot at Huguenot is the beach itself, Audubon said its volunteers had increased their presence on busy weekends to alert visitors to the chicks.

The 2024 season at Huguenot showed the cost. In its April 2026 report, Audubon Florida said nesting in 2024 shifted significantly south of the traditional closed area, so birds moving from the dunes to the water crossed areas where vehicles drive and park, and more than 40 birds perished from vehicle strikes. Audubon said the season highlighted the limits of relying on historic nesting patterns to guide protections.

In 2025 the protected area at Huguenot grew about 450 feet beyond the traditional closure and gained a moving box along the dunes, Audubon Florida reported.

According to Audubon Florida, the expanded Huguenot area took in new nesting locations, and the seasonal protective box extended protection to the south, shifting as birds and chicks moved, especially on weekends. Law enforcement partners intervened when needed, stopping traffic so chicks could reach the shoreline, and additional posted areas went up when flightless chicks moved outside the designated zones. Audubon credited park staff, city employees and its own volunteer stewards, who talked with beach users about sharing the shore.

Audubon reported that monitors and stewards recorded 17 bird fatalities from vehicle strikes in 2025, compared with more than 40 the year before, and quoted its Northeast Florida policy associate saying the 2025 approach would be repeated and refined. The same article names the park's Shorebird Management Team as Audubon, the City of Jacksonville, FWC and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. FWC's own page explains why the posted area on the ground can be larger than the mapped 82 acres: staff may post outside the CWA boundary when chicks run across the beach.

The City of Jacksonville closes the north end of the Huguenot peninsula to vehicles seasonally, requires a 5 mph speed limit and bars dogs from every shoreline.

The City of Jacksonville states that seasonally, before Memorial Day and after Labor Day, the north end of the peninsula will be closed to vehicles because of nesting shorebirds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and its page still carries a notice dated 6/11/2025 that the north end was closed. Beachgoers are expected to abide by the 5 mph speed limit, respect closures and avoid driving through flocks of birds. Day-use visitors may not bring dogs into the park at all; registered campers must keep dogs leashed and never left alone, and dogs are not allowed on any shoreline at any time, in or out of vehicles. Inside posted CWA areas, state rule also bars vehicles, vessels and fishing.

Statewide rules reach the Huguenot colony too. FWC's Imperiled Beach-nesting Bird Species Conservation Measures and Permitting Guidelines took effect on October 1, 2024, and cover the four Threatened beach nesters. FWC asks beachgoers never to enter areas posted with shorebird or seabird signs, to avoid driving on or beyond the upper beach, and to drive slowly enough to avoid running over chicks.

Source: City of Jacksonville, Huguenot Memorial Park. The office and entrance gate close one hour before closing time, active duty military and veterans get half off admission with military ID or DD214, and the park can close for high tides, capacity or unsafe conditions. The Birding Trail lists hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, which differs from the City's posted hours.

Outside nesting season Huguenot is a resting and feeding beach for gulls, terns, shorebirds and migrating red knots, with 237 bird species recorded.

The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail calls the park one of the best birding sites on the east coast of Florida and lists it at 361 acres. Terns and gulls rest on the beach by the hundreds, and a good variety of shorebirds feed and rest on the beach and exposed mud flats. The Trail calls the park a vital staging area for Red Knots; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes that some rufa red knots fly more than 9,300 miles from south to north every spring and repeat the trip in reverse every autumn.

Fall and winter bring northern gulls. The Trail lists Lesser Black-backed Gulls in fall, records of both Glaucous and Iceland Gulls in winter, Northern Gannets offshore, and sea ducks such as Greater Scaup and Red-breasted Merganser from late fall through early spring. Rarities include Florida's first Greater Sand-Plover in May 2009, along with Bar-tailed Godwit, Razorbill, Lapland Longspur and Snow Bunting. The park nature center is open Friday through Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., according to the City, which also notes that Naval Station Mayport helicopter training across the river can be frequent and noisy late at night and early in the morning.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against FWC's Fort George Inlet, Critical Wildlife Area and beach-nesting bird pages, the JaxParks Huguenot page with its posted hours and fees, the Birding Trail site listing, the federal red knot profile and two Audubon Florida stewardship reports.