Our Resident Brown Booby

While we always try to rehabilitate birds, we do provide a home for birds too injured to return to the wild. One of our unique residents is a Brown Booby that schoolchildren in the Keys have come to know as Byron the Booby.

The Booby is a pelagic bird. Pelagic is a term that, according to Wikipedia, refers to the open sea or ocean not near the coast. In other words, they seldom touch land. They are sea birds in the most pure sense of the word.

When we received this bird, it was wrapped in fishline and very weak. The line had severely injured its right wing and leg and the infirmary staff did not think it would live. But, although he can't soar any longer above the sea, this bird recovered and is healthy.

Byron is part of our education outreach program. The bird seems to enjoy trips to schools and libraries to help everyone learn about this wonderful free-flying species. Here is link to the page on the Brown Booby at the Cornell Ornithology Website.

Our new Willet

We recently welcomed a species of bird we don't see very often in the Keys: a Willet. The Eastern Willet is a shore nesting bird. We have a lot of shoreline in the Keys, but it isn't great for nesting unless you are a bird who likes mangroves.

This Willet came in with a broken wing and the wing has been treated in our infirmary. Our goal, as always, is to rehabilitate the bird back into the wild so it can reproduce and strengthen the species.

You can find out more about the Willet at this link in Wikipedia and you can hear the call of the Willet at this link from the excellent Cornell Ornithology Website.

Why We Need Old Towels and Linens

This peahen was hit by a car on old US1. Usually, drivers in this area know to watch for and work with the several flocks of pea fowl that wander the highway, but an unfortunate driver hit this hen and her sister were hit. The sister died.

Technically, pea fowl are "barnyard" animals, but around here they are "free range" and we take them in at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center if they need help. Our goal will be to get this girl back out with the flock. But, as we nurse her in our ICU, note that we go through a lot of sheets and towels. Your contributions of old bed linens and towels are very useful and welcome.

UPDATE: Slash Prospers!

We are thrilled to report that the wild Great White Heron we named "Slash" (because of the terrible wound in his neck) has recovered and is healthy. Please see the movie below!

For more information about the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center, please see our Website http://www.fkwbc.org/

The Story of a Bird We Call Slash

The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center is all about rehabilitation of birds so they can return to the environment and strengthen the species. The attached video tells the story of a seriously injured Great White Heron that is probably smarter than we are in his environment. Please view the video below that tells the story of "Slash the Wonder Bird".

Our Hopes and Prayers -- Moving Across the Road

Right now, the Center is in a lowland wooded area labeled FKWBC in this picture. The major problems with this area are that it floods and it has very limited parking. The limitations on parking impact our entire operation from the delivery of fish (frozen in a big truck) to parking school buses. Tourists are often discouraged from turning in because of the crowded parking conditions. The inability to park school buses limits our education program which could be important for the communities from South Miami to Key West.

Interestingly, just South of us, across the highway, is a piece of land owned by the State of Florida that would be perfect for our operation. Originally a quarry, it has invasive trees that the state has sporadically spent almost $100,000 trying to eradicate, and it has a deep and dangerous unfenced borrow pit full of water.





We would like to work a deal with the State to trade land or to lease this otherwise useless proerty, but so far the bureaucrats have their heads in the sand. We would get rid of the exotic plants, turn the property to good use, and do a lot of good for the environment. We need support, in this case political support, from the community.



Would you please email or call Rodney Barreto, the Chairman of the State Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission at 850-487-3796 or rodney@thebarretogroup.com
And Michael Sole, the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection at 850-245-2011 michael.sole@dep.state.fl.us

In both cases, tell them that you support the need for the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center to relocate to the state owned property on Dove Sound. We appreciate your help.