The Florida Keys' beaches are a prime location for bird watching.
The Florida Keys are a popular destination for travelers longing for sun, warmth and the beach. One of the most popular beaches is Bahia Honda Key Beach, which is a popular spot for snorkelers and beach bums. One of the other attractions to the beaches is the diverse wildlife, which live, breed and nest on the beaches.
Birds
The beach has a wide range of gulls that scavenge the beach for food. The main gulls are laughing gulls (black head, red bill), herring gulls (large with white head), and the ring-billed gull (smaller with black ring around their yellow bill). Terns also use the Florida Keys' beaches, and although they resemble gulls, they are a different species completely. They are grey on the top portion of their bodies and white on their bellies. They feed on fish, which they dive for. The different types of terns are royal tern (orange bill), Caspian tern (red bill) and the least tern (yellow bill).
Reptiles
Reptiles use the beaches along the Florida Keys as nesting areas during the breeding seasons. There are a variety of turtles, such as the Atlantic Ridley sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, and the green sea turtle. When they aren't breeding, the turtles can be seen just off the shore feeding on fish, jellyfish and aquatic turtle grass. A variety of iguanas and geckos scatter along the beach, feeding on insects. There is the brown anole, green anole, green iguana and the Mediterranean gecko. They are most active around dawn and dusk when the sun is not so hot.
Mammals
The Florida Keys has some mammal species that can be seen by visitors while visiting the beach. One common species is the opossum, which prefers to stay close to the tree line; is nocturnal in nature; and scavenges for food, eating bugs, reptiles and almost anything. Another common visitor to the beaches is the raccoon, which is also nocturnal and scavenges for food, willing to eat almost anything. A new species to the beach, originating in Africa, but now living on the Florida Keys' beaches is the giant African Gambian pouch rat. The pouch rat is an omnivore, eating almost anything it can find. It is also considered a threat to the Florida Keys' native mammal species.
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