Floral Avian Paradise: Key West, Sanctuary City
- TheBetterHalf
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Cutest here, taking my every other week turn at putting my slant on some of Cutest’s and my adventures told in blog form. Today a closer look at birds, flowers and more that make Key West a tropical paradise.
Birds must absolutely love this place. Most mornings Cutest and I, along with traveling four-footed companion, Sola, whom I’m renaming Cuter, sip coffee or munch treats on the back deck as song birds serenade us. These feathery fowl don’t just tweet a ten second tune. No! They go on like they are contestants on America’s Got Talent, warbling on, past two or three pages of sheet music. If after listening to them, you don’t desire to go watch the latest iteration of Jurassic Park or George in the Jungle, you must be tone deaf.
You say you have an ailing macaw? Well then, put Nancy Forrester on your speed dial or give her a visit. This 86-year-old environmentalist has operated, since the sixties, a parrot refuge in the heart of Key West. Her backyard must represent what the island looked like hundreds of years ago. Many tall palms and other vegetation common to the tropics make daylight barely able to filter down to ground level.
Hidden among the foliage are six-foot-tall metal cages, each housing one or two rainbow feathered macaws or other parrots. Large macaws can easily live fifty years and beyond, so it’s not uncommon for them to outlive their owners. Like many creatures from the wild that people purchase for pets, their needs or their size too often sees them released.
Fortunately, Nancy, starting with one parrot abandoned on her property, is able to rescue many birds, solving part of what is a huge problem. Some of her feathered friends can talk, sing, laugh, or in one instance, play an iPhone piano. Fricking amazing!
On the east side of the island, Key West Wildlife Center assists birds and other creatures back to health. Injured animals can be placed in cages outside of their entrance, a 24/7 phone number can then be called, and a volunteer will soon show up and see that the critter receives care. Cutest, Cuter, and I strolled the park-like grounds, admiring greater egrets, terns and other patients in recovery. Oh, and less exciting, turtles.
Scattered seemingly everywhere in this town are orchids, flowering bushes, stunning trees and cactus, dotting every landscape with a palate of color. Scroll > through a few below.
Maybe this isn’t Eden, but it’s better than anything Disney could create.
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