Tuesday, December 23, 2014

12/23 Save Our Seabirds Sanctuary

I headed out this morning to get a propane refill and visit the Mote Aquarium.  Right next door, I found this sanctuary for seabirds.  They really aren't all seabirds, but this was an interesting sanctuary.


This is a black vulture.  They hang out with turkey vultures but are a bit smaller and have a black head and beak.  The sign said they have a sense of fun and are more inventive than turkey vultures. In fact, when I walked up to this one, he jumped off his perch, picked up an orange toy, and dropped it in front of me!  A real charmer, even though I am not fond of vultures.

These are barred owls.  You can identify them by their "Who cooks for you?" call. 

I had never seen this bird before, but he is a crested caracara and is native to southern Florida but endangered.  It was a little hard to take photos because of the wire mesh on cages.  Signs warn not to stick your fingers through the mesh!


Santa Pelican?  They have drop boxes, by the way, for birds after hours.

This is a great egret.  There are a lot of white birds in Florida, but this one has black legs and an orange beak so it is easy to identify.

And a bunch of Florida brown pelicans.  One was blind and so was hand fed by the keeper while I was there. 

And sandhill cranes are among my favorite birds.  They are huge!  Note that three of the four in this cage have artificial legs.  They are working to make them more comfortable and easier to walk with, but the birds seemed to do OK walking.


The sign here describes these birds and the efforts to make better prosthetic legs for them. 

They have an assortment of other birds in residence.  This is a parrot of some sort. 

And while most birds need cages to keep them in, this one apparently is out and wants to get in.

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