Florida is a birdwatchers' paradise. The state is home to close to 500 bird species, most native to Florida, including land birds, such as wild turkeys, red-tailed hawks, whip-poor-wills, ruby-throated hummingbirds and palm warblers. Near lakes, streams and swamplands, bird lovers can find pelicans, snowy egrets, spoonbills and sandpipers. Throughout Florida, it is possible to observe birds in their native habitats, as well as at sanctuaries that care for and protect tropical and domestic species.
Offered through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Great Florida Birding Trail (GFBT) is a 2,000-mile, self-guided highway trail that offers birdwatching opportunities. The GFBT includes 489 birding sites throughout Florida, which can be located using a special Google Maps trip-planning tool on the commission's website. With this tool, bird watchers will be able to find destinations and select from more than 40 specific bird species of interest--including smooth-billed anis, snail kites, mangrove cuckoos and crested caracaras--that thrive along the trail.
Great Florida Birding Trail
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
620 S. Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399
850-488-4676
myfwc.com/gfbt
Winner of Nickelodeon ParentsConnect's 2009 award for best tourist spot in South Florida, Jungle Island began in 1936 as Parrot Island, a haven where tropical birds could fly free, but now exhibits a variety of animals, including Bengal and white tigers, red kangaroos, orangutans, Burmese pythons, and Albino alligators. This beloved Florida institution is home to 1,100 free-flying birds, including scarlet macaws, king vultures, lories and black palm cockatoos. Jungle Island also offers several trained-bird shows. Visitors watch a 6-foot tall cassowary swallow an entire apple and cheer on Pinky, a charismatic cockatoo who has been entertaining visitors for decades on his high-wire bicycle.
Jungle Island
1111 Parrot Jungle Trail
Miami, FL 33132
305-400-7000
jungleisland.com
Owned and operated by the National Audubon Society, this 11,000-acre preserve just outside of Naples in southwest Florida, is home to more than 200 bird species. At the sanctuary, visitors will find nesting wood storks, white ibis, great blue herons, limpkins and many wading birds that congregate near the two-mile-long boardwalk. Visitors can also walk through the largest subtropical bald-cypress forest in the United States, with trees as tall as 130 feet and up to 700-years-old. The preserve also houses eight species of bats, including Rafinesque's big-eared bat and the Brazilian free-tailed bat, along with black bears, river otters, white-tailed deer and swamp rabbits.
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
375 Sanctuary Road W.
Naples, FL 34120
239-348-9151
corkscrew.audubon.org
Open since 1998 and staffed primarily by volunteers, this Pensacola sanctuary cares for more than 40 macaws, 20 other parrot species, pheasants, pigeons and peacocks. The park takes in birds rescued from research laboratories, parrots whose owners can no longer care for them and birds that need medical care or rehabilitation. Uncle Sandy's offers free admission but accepts cash donations and gifts of pelleted food, birdseed and nuts.
Uncle Sandy's Macaw Bird Park
9513 N. Palafox Street
Pensacola, FL 32534
850-478-6421
macawbirdpark.com
