PARKS & OUTDOORS
Boyd Hill Nature Preserve
Pinellas County · Gulf Coast
Two hundred and forty-five acres of six different Florida habitats on Lake Maggiore, minutes from downtown St. Petersburg.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The preserve covers 245 acres on the shore of Lake Maggiore in south St. Petersburg, run by the city's parks department from 1101 Country Club Way South. What makes it worth the trip is the range packed into a short walk: six natural communities sit side by side here, lake, freshwater marsh, swamp, pine flatwoods, scrub and hardwood hammock, each with its own plants and each reached within three miles of trail and boardwalk. An aviary on the grounds cares for injured raptors that cannot be returned to the wild, hawks, owls and eagles among them, and they are the closest most visitors will come to those birds. The preserve runs school field trips and environmental education programs and holds an annual raptor festival. There is a playground, picnic ground and a set of sculptures made from recycled metal by the local artist Paul Eppling. Alligators, gopher tortoises and a long list of birds live here
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