Local Wildlife

Thursday, 13 March 2008 15:33 Written by Sue Sparkes Last Updated on Thursday, 17 April 2008 11:46

Oh, just another day in Paradise.  

Driving to work this morning, 2 great white herons swooped over the highway, squawking their displeasure at whatever had rousted them from their mangrove perches. Later, I spotted a snowy egret stalking a chameleon in someone’s front yard. Seeing an osprey diving and fishing, or nesting, is such a common sight here, people can forget to notice them after awhile. I relish noticing them!  

A few years back, I was driving home to Key Largo from a long day at work in Miami, with the sun setting in a blaze of fire across the Everglades, when two roseate spoonbills swooped down low over the roadway, right in front of me! They banked as they rose, their wings catching the orange firelight of the sunset, and they were as pink as the inside of a queen conchshell. It was a singular moment for me, since spoonbill sightings are quite rare (they are very private creatures and usually nest deep in the Everglades, away from people). While I don't miss the commute to Miami anymore, I do kind of miss sunset and bird watching on the 18-Mile Stretch of US1.

 Since that time, I’m constantly on the lookout for local wildlife. I’ve seen great white & blue herons, snowy egrets courting in a parking lot while passersby stopped and watched their graceful dances. Ospreys, hunting, nesting & teaching their chicks to fly. Red tailed hawks, Florida wood storks, kingfishers, the ever-present cormorants, owls, crocodiles, marsh rabbits, manatees, dolphins, and four-foot-long swimming iguanas that climb out on your dock and feast on red hibiscus blossoms (they really like tomatoes, too!). I did not make up the part about the iguana, I swear! For a reformed city girl, this is an amazing place to live, work and play. 

If you travel to the Keys, be sure to spend some time looking for local wildlife (the bars are easy to find, it’s the birds and beasts you have to look for). If you want to get some closer looks, I highly recommend a visit to the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center in Key Largo (MM 94). Operated completely on private donations, they offer guided and unguided tours of their amazing wild bird rescue center (some of the tour guides are a little small & have feathers, but they’re very enthusiastic).  In April, the Bird Center acquired an orphaned baby roseate spoonbill, which is just a pink as pink can be! Don't miss a chance to see this baby!

The Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key (MM 59) can teach you lots of great stuff about aquatic mammals & has several “encounter” programs for the public. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo (MM 102) has a great visitor center, an aquarium, and glass-bottom boat rides over the only living coral reef in the continental U.S. And when your day is done, choose one of our local “wildlife” gathering places on the water, order a frosty beverage, and toast the beautiful sunset. 

Yeah, just another day in Paradise.