This refuge is one of the top 10 most visited in the country. Visitors can hike, bike, paddle, boat or drive through the refuge.
A narrated tram tour takes you through the refuge where you can spot egrets, anhingas, blue herons, brown pelicans, ospreys, roseate spoonbills and other birds nesting, feeding and preening. Low tide is the best time for watching birds.
The refuge was named for editorial cartoonist Jay Norwood Darling who was a frequent winter resident. He was also an avid conservationist, supported reforestation, habitat restoration and world peace. Darling was instrumental in starting the Federal Duck Stamp Program and conceived the National Wildlife Federation. In 1945 efforts led by Darling created a lease of land that would be known as the Sanibel Refuge. The refuge attracts over 800,000 visitors annually.
And how did Mr. Darling get the nickname Ding......it was common for men to be called by their last names in college at that time, but his friends were embarrassed to yell, "Hey, Darling!" so they took the first letter D and last 3 letters ING of his name and he became known as Ding.
