This excerpt is similar in style to what you will find in the actual book. Colorful Florida nature images are inserted at chapter headings. This book is in full color and has many actual photographs of Florida wildlife and scenery folllowing each chapter
Be  sure to continue scrolling down to see some of the actual photographs in the book.

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   Monroe County

Monroe County is the southern-most county in Florida and includes those magic islands, the Florida Keys. This is where a nature-lover will find the really wide-open spaces. It has an extraordinary number of state parks as well as numerous other natural attractions.

Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park offers six miles of back county trails through the lush hardwood hammocks. Their butterfly garden attracts many species of flying jewels. This is a hotspot for birds as well.Many migrant species are seen here including the thick-billed vireo and La Sagra's flycatcher.

 Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park is another birding hotspot. Currently there is a pair of ospreys raising their young in a nest on an old windmill. Boating, canoes, kayaks and powerboats are welcome there. You can bring your own or rent from Robbie’s Marina or one of the other nearby outfitters. Robbie’s Marina also offers eco-tours to the island.

Curry Hammock State Park is a group of island with both ocean and bay frontage. Human powered boats are allowed there and can explore both coastlines, as the current is not extreme. The park is going to offer year round camping there instead of just winter. As all of the Keys parks, this park is also a great birding spot.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, on Key Largo, and San Pedro State Park, just south of Indian Key, are predominately underwater parks. At Pennekamp, the  reefs are the major attraction. At San Pedro, you can dive around the remains of the San Pedro, a 287-ton, Dutch-built ship that was part of a Spanish flotilla. It sank in a hurricane on July 13, 1733. Today, a large pile of ballast stones covering an area 90 by 30 foot area mark the area of the wreck. The underwater site has been enhanced with seven replica cannons, an anchor and an information plaque.

Indian Key Historic State Park, Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park and Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park function mainly to preserve the rich and varied history of the Keys. They are also worth visiting for the wildlife and unique Keys flora they support.

Bahia Honda State Park, at MM 37 offers the most activities of any state park in the Keys. There are three sandy beaches for swimming, snorkeling, fishing, kayaking or canoeing. It accommodates any kind of camping from large motor homes to the smallest tent at its 80 campsites. For those who don’t like to “rough it” there are cabins. The park has nature trails for hiking, paved roads for biking, docks for boating, a gift shop, a snack bar and a chance to spot more birds than the most ardent birder even dreams about. It is considered the best birding spot in the Keys as per the Great Florida Birding Trail Guide. The endangered white crowned pigeon has been spotted during the summer months. The big wading birds like herons, ibises and egrets are a sure thing.

Long Key State Park, located at MM 67.5, also offers camping. There are 60 sites with water and electric hookups. A canoe trail and two hiking trails offer plenty of opportunity to spot wildlife.

One of my favorite wild places in the Keys is National Key Deer Refuge, located on Big Pine Key. The attraction here is deer, the tiny Key Deer, found nowhere else in the world. Although they are found predominantly on Big Pine and No Name Keys, they can also be found on Cudjoe, West Summerland, Big Torch, Howe, Little Pine, Little Torch, Middle Torch,  Sugarloaf, Annette, Big Munson, Little Munson, Johnson, Knockemdown, Mayo, Porpoise, Ramrod, Toptree Hammock, Wahoo and Water Key. Their liquid chocolate eyes will melt the hardest heart. No larger than the average German Shepard, these dainty creatures are protected here and you are sure to see them if you visit the right spots. Due to the appeal of the little creatures, people frequently break the law against feeding wildlife. Because of this, they have largely lost their fear of humans and will often approach you very closely. The population is believed to be between 300 and 800. They are a high risk due mainly to automobile crashes as they are hard to see especially at dawn and dusk. When you see the lowered speed limit on big Pine Key, remember just that few miles-per-hour slower may save the life of one of these threatened beauties.

The Blue Hole, a deep borrow pit that’s a remnant of the old railroad days, is a wonderful spot to find wildlife. The tiny deer are not the only attraction here. Alligators, turtles and other creatures either live in or frequent the hole and the nearby Jack Watson Nature Trail. The Key Deer Refuge is on the Florida Birding Trail and it’s a great place to sight green herons and belted kingfishers. Look for the wonderful observation platform at the end of Manillo trail.

Big Pine Key is also home to the Great White Heron Wildlife Refuge. The herons, great whites as well as blues and greens are not the only bird you may spot there. Frigate birds, cormorants, pelicans, egrets, ibises, bald eagles and ospreys are often spotted.

Crane Point is located at Marathon by MM 50.5. Here you will be able to combine history, culture and nature. The center offers two museums, Museum of Natural History of Florida Keys and The Children’s Activity Center. The Natural History Museum gives you a glimpse of life in the Keys from the time of the Calusa Indians, shipwrecks of the early explorers, Flagler’s doomed railroad all intertwined with the plant and animal life both on the island and in the surrounding waters. It’s on the Birding Trail and along with the pelicans and other wading birds you may spot warblers, white-crowned pigeons, vireos, tanagers, and thrushes. The Children’s Museum presents these same events and creatures on a child’s level, using costumes and touch and feel tanks to hold their interest.

After seeing the museum, take a stroll down one of the several trails that wend through the hardwood hammock. They will take you to an earlier time at the 1890’s home of George and Olivia Adderley, Bahamians who were among the first permanent settlers in the Crane Point area. The house is one of the oldest houses in the Keys. 

The trail then leads you to the Wild Bird Center, a hospital dedicated to rescuing birds in need of veterinarian care. They have removed so many fishing hooks and untangled so many monofilament lines from the helpless seabirds that they could probably do it in their sleep. If you happen by the hospital at the right time, you may witness an operation on an injured wing or see a tiny broken leg set.

The trail also leads you over a boardwalk through serene hardwood trees and to a spectacular view of Florida Bay.