Coastal wildlife
Healthy habitats support healthy coasts
From dunes and beaches to salt marshes, coastal habitats support distinctive wildlife. Escambia County’s Coastal Programs combine monitoring, research, partnerships, and public education to better understand these species and the places they depend on.
Dune wildlife
Beach Mice
Escambia County is home to two species of beach mice: the Santa Rosa Island Beach Mouse (Peromyscus polionotus leucocephalus), found on Pensacola Beach from Fort Pickens through Eglin Air Force Base, and the federally listed Perdido Key Beach Mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis), which lives exclusively on Perdido Key.
Beach mice are nocturnal. They shelter in small underground burrows during the day and forage among the dunes at night, mainly eating seeds from a variety of plants. As they forage, they disperse seeds through the dune ecosystem. Healthy, stable dunes help protect the mainland during tropical storms and hurricanes.
Beach mouse subspecies
Eight subspecies are listed below: seven living subspecies and the extinct Pallid Beach Mouse. Open a profile to read its range and notes.
Alabama Beach MouseABM · P. p. ammobates
Historical range: Ono Island to Fort Morgan.
Perdido Key Beach MousePKBM · P. p. trissyllepsis
Range: Perdido Key State Park to Johnson Beach in Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Santa Rosa Island Beach MouseSRIBM · P. p. leucocephalus
- Range: Fort Pickens in Gulf Islands National Seashore to Okaloosa County.
- The only beach mouse subspecies in this list that is not federally listed.
- Has the lightest fur color of the beach mouse subspecies.
Choctawhatchee Beach MouseCBM · P. p. allophrys
- Historical range: Henderson Beach State Park to East Crooked Island on Tyndall Air Force Base.
- No longer found at Henderson Beach State Park.
- The source document reports a declining population and concern about its persistence at Grayton Beach.
St. Andrews Beach MouseSABM · P. p. peninsularis
Range: East Crooked Island on Tyndall Air Force Base to St. Joseph Peninsula.
Southeastern Beach MouseSEBM · P. p. niveiventris
Historical range: Ponce Inlet in Volusia County south to Hollywood Beach in Broward County.
Pallid Beach MousePBM · P. p. decoloratus · Extinct
- Also known as the Ponce de Leon Beach Mouse.
- Historical range: Ponce Park in Volusia County and Bulow in Flagler County.
- None have been observed since 1959. Possible causes include habitat destruction and fragmentation, predation by free-roaming cats, and competition from invasive species such as house mice.
Anastasia Island Beach MouseAIBM · P. p. phasma
- Current range: Anastasia Island, from Anastasia State Park at the north end to Fort Matanzas National Monument at the south end.
- Its historical range extended farther north to Mickler’s Landing and potentially the St. Johns River. Habitat loss has limited its range.
How biologists monitor beach mice
Monitoring methods provide different kinds of information about beach mouse presence, species, and population status.
Track tubes
Biologists place track tubes along coastal dunes from Gulf County to Escambia County, on state, federal, and private property. A station uses a baited PVC tube lined with cardstock and an eco-friendly ink pad to record footprints. Tracks in the tube or in sand within three meters can indicate beach mouse presence. Track size helps biologists distinguish among rodent species.
Sites are checked monthly or every other month. Track tubes are noninvasive and show where mice are present and how detections change over time; they do not estimate population size. Yearly maps show the percentage of stations where tracks were detected. A significant decline can prompt the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to trap mice for a population estimate.
Bucket cameras
When biologists need to identify animals visiting a track tube, they can place a game camera inside a baited bucket or nearby. The recorded footage can confirm whether beach mice are present.
Live trapping
For population assessments, translocations, and the captive breeding program, biologists use Sherman live traps baited with sunflower seeds in primary and secondary dunes. Traps are set about two hours before dusk and checked around midnight. A trapping effort typically lasts five days and is conducted about every five years.
Population assessments help biologists understand how populations are doing. When a subspecies is low and at risk, translocation can move mice to the declining population’s location to support repopulation and genetic diversity.
Captive population
Before Hurricane Ivan in 2004, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist collected eight mice as founders for a captive breeding program, now hosted by Brevard Zoo in Melbourne. New mice are added over time to support genetic diversity, and excess mice are returned to the wild. The program helps keep a population available for reintroduction to Perdido Key if a catastrophic event causes mice to disappear from the island.
Education ambassadors
Escambia County received Perdido Key Beach Mice to serve as education ambassadors and help the public learn why they matter. These mice prefer primary and secondary dunes in coastal scrub, where they dig burrows and forage for seeds. They are most active at night, which helps them avoid predators and excessive daytime heat. The ambassador mice let the public see live beach mice in a controlled setting.
Beach mouse questions
Why are beach mice important?
Beach mice disperse seeds in dune ecosystems, helping stabilize dunes that protect the mainland during hurricanes and other storms. They can also indicate dune health: if dunes are not stable enough for mice to burrow, mice may be absent from the area.
How do biologists monitor endangered beach mice?
Biologists use track tubes to detect footprints, bucket cameras to identify animals, and live trapping for population assessments and conservation work.
Salt marsh wildlife
Diamondback Terrapins
The diamondback terrapin is the only turtle in the United States that lives in estuarine habitat. It is considered a keystone species in salt marshes because it helps maintain populations of periwinkle snails (Littoraria irrorata), which can overgraze marsh vegetation.
Diamondback terrapins range along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas. Nesting season runs from April through October. Females lay small clutches of about seven to ten eggs on sandy beaches near marsh habitat.
Terrapins face pressures from low reproductive rates and delayed maturity, predation by raccoons, pet-trade collection, road mortality, and drowning in crab traps. Habitat loss and fragmentation worsen these challenges. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing their population status.
Research partnership
The Panhandle Terrapin Project
Escambia County is home to two of Florida’s seven diamondback terrapin subspecies: the ornate terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin macrospilota) and the Mississippi terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin pileata). Escambia County Natural Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Florida Sea Grant Extension are working together to assess terrapin populations in the Florida Panhandle.
Florida Sea Grant Extension coordinates the citizen-science volunteer program during nesting season, while USGS manages research. The project has also partnered with the University of West Florida on genetic assessments of ornate and Mississippi terrapins.
Research initiatives
- Nesting monitoring
- Population assessments using trapping efforts at study sites, including sex, weight, measurements, age, and tissue samples
- Acoustic and satellite telemetry to study movement
- Genetic studies to identify subspecies
- Stable isotope analysis to study foraging and diet
Grant funding
2024
$16,500 awarded
Escambia County Natural Resources received funding from the Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program for the Panhandle Terrapin Project. The funds supported nesting-monitoring sites, habitat maps to select additional study sites, acoustic receivers and tags, and ongoing USGS work.
2025
$54,170.60 awarded
The Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program awarded continued support, primarily to expand acoustic telemetry by purchasing additional receivers and tags. Receivers deployed from Escambia County to Okaloosa County will also support terrapin, sea turtle, and fish telemetry studies conducted by other agencies.
Native pollinators
Gulf Coast Solitary Bee
The Gulf Coast solitary bee (Hesperapis oraria) is native to the immediate coast and barrier islands of northwest Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. It lives alone in burrows beneath the sand. It does not form colonies and has no queen or honey.
The bee emerges in late September and early October, when its host plant, coastal plain honeycombhead (Balduina angustifolia), blooms. Females collect pollen and build nests for their eggs. Males often sleep on flowers while waiting for females; their activity among flowers helps pollinate the plant.
Coastal plain honeycombhead is a biennial plant. In its first year it grows as a small rosette; in its second year it can reach two to three feet tall and produce one to 20 bright yellow flowers. The bee is found where this host plant is abundant because the two have a specialized relationship. Habitat loss and fragmentation, made worse by rising sea levels and inundation, threaten both.
Beach-nesting and migratory birds
Shorebirds and Seabirds
Escambia County beaches support many shorebirds, including Florida’s state-threatened beach-nesting birds. Up to 80% of Florida’s Snowy Plover breeding population is estimated to occur in the Panhandle.
The nesting season can begin as early as mid-February and continue into early September. Four of Florida’s five imperiled beach-nesting species occur on Escambia County beaches: the solitary Snowy Plover and Wilson’s Plover, and the colonial Least Tern and Black Skimmer.
During the non-breeding season, beaches provide refuge for migratory species, including the federally listed Piping Plover and Red Knot. Other expected species include Sanderling, Dunlin, Willet, Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, and others.
Audubon Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission monitor and manage imperiled species throughout the year.
Learn more and get involved
- Florida Shorebird Alliance — add resource link
- Audubon Florida Coastal Stewardship — add resource link
To join the regional contact list for shorebird volunteer opportunities in Escambia County, email brian.cammarano@audubon.org.
