Wings on the mend
In the heart of Tavernier, on the west side of Overseas Highway, an ornithological oasis sits shrouded among thickets of dense Florida hollies. A wide variety of wild birds seek refuge here; from parrots and pelicans to songbirds and snow owls. Free of an admission charge, Laura Quinn’s Wild Bird Sanctuary flaps and chirps its way into visitors’ generous hearts and curious minds.
After visitors rumble down a dusty, rocky driveway, Fredricka, the director’s pet green Amazon parrot, greets them from her cage with a pleasant “Hello.” A winding boardwalk within the mangroves guides birdwatchers through the numerous aviaries scattered about the grounds. Barred and great horned owls are the first species you’ll pass. The great horned’s piercing yellow eyes are gaunt with distress; the birds at the sanctuary are all either injured or displaced. The proud broad-winged hawks survey their surroundings perched atop tall branches. A red-shouldered hawk is nearby in its cage, boasting a rust-colored breast and striped brown-and-white wings. Turkey vultures lurch and leer with patchy scarlet faces and black feathers, like the menacing skeksis from The Dark Crystal. A tiny red eastern screech owl cozies up within its small house, peeking its head out half sleepily, half vigilantly.
Info
Address 93600 Overseas Highway, Tavernier, FL 33070, +1 305.852.4486, www.keepthemflying.org | Hours Daily sunrise–sunset| Tip South Florida is one of the premier bird-watching locations in the country. Along Overseas Highway, look for brown signs indicating stops on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail where you can pull over and look out for different indigenous birds.
A large mesh aviary sits near the west end of the sanctuary, housing huge-billed brown pelicans, orange-faced and eyelashed double-crested cormorants, and sleek-strutting white ibises. The laughing gulls guffaw from the cage next door, cohabitating with their royal tern roommates.
At the end of the sanctuary, a beautiful open beach is the unbridled preserve for the transient bird population. Free to come and go as they please, pelicans and ibises bask in the sun of the Florida Keys, much like the people who live there.
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