Funds generated from Florida Keys tourism are going to support a new “Birdwalk” at the Laura Quinn Wild Bird Sanctuary in Tavernier.
On Sept. 17, local officials, community members and sanctuary staff put shovels to the dirt to mark the beginning of a $600,000 project. Entirely funded by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, installation of the new “birdwalk” will be led by Island Villa Construction.
Erin Allison, the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center’s executive director, told a large group of attendees how she recently came across a note within her journal from four years ago. At the time, she was living in a very remote area of Costa Rica, with no transportation and very little money. She said she found herself dreaming of a different life, and on the corner of one page she wrote “Dreaming of taking over the Wild Bird Center.”
“At the time, there was no way I could see a path from where I was to making that dream a
reality. But I quietly kept believing in it,” she said. “In 2023, I became executive director and found myself exactly where I had once dreamed of being. And as I began assessing the Wild Bird Center and thinking about its future, I kept coming back to this boardwalk.”
Originally constructed in the 1990s by volunteers, the boardwalk has faced weathering from hurricanes, tropical storms and king tides. The path through the sanctuary, which more than 40 nonreleasable birds — owls and hawks to songbirds and pelicans — call home, has seen hundreds of thousands of visitors through the decades.
“I honestly thought it might take five years before we could make it happen. There were so many other needs and priorities that had to come first,” Allison said. “Today, just three years later, we are celebrating breaking ground on something we dreamed about for a long time and what this means for the future of this organization.”
Since 1988, the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center has been protecting birds of the Florida Keys, and this sanctuary has provided a permanent home for birds that could not return to the wild. The beginnings center around the “Bird Lady” founder Laura Quinn. She earned the name over the years as she created a natural legacy rescuing and rehabilitating wild birds. Originally a statistician and mathematics teacher, Quinn always loved nature.
“I know Laura is looking down on this place and is just very proud of the work you have done,” Islamorada Mayor Don Horton said to the sanctuary staff and board.
Dennis Caltagirone, president for the sanctuary board, said the boardwalk was always the “birdwalk.”
“You’re not walking through the beach. It should be a birdwalk because you’re walking among the birds,” he said.
Allison said the project awaits a permit from Monroe County to begin the construction. She said they anticipate the work will start in the coming month, and it will take around six months to complete.
