
“Snowbird” is a more interesting word than it might first appear.
The history of the word, too, is curious, so thank you, David Sloan, for pointing it out to me. Its origin dates back to 1674. Also, because I am someone who likes to look into the history of things, other words, first documented in 1674 are balderdash, nebulous, fidget and Thanksgiving Day. I am particularly fond of balderdash.
The official Merriam-Webster definition is: “1: any of several birds (such as junco or fieldfare) seen chiefly in winter, and 2: one who travels to warmer climes for the winter.” The latter definition generally comes to mind when the subject of snowbirds is brought into a Florida conversation.
For centuries, the word referred to birds that appeared in the winter months, and not the “snowbirds” generally referred to by people in Florida this time of year. It was not until the early 20th century that snowbird shifted from a reference to actual birds and began to be applied to people, too. The surprising detail about the application is that the use of the word has not always been as innocuous as it seems today. The evolution of its meaning became something considered to be in the four-letter-word category.
According to Merriam-Webster, one of the early uses of the term described men who would enlist in the military in the winter months to get warm clothes and rations of food, but who would desert their posts once the weather warmed up again. It was only later that “snowbird” began to be assigned as an umbrella term for the northern workers, and others, who ventured south for the winter.
Back in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, “snowbird” was used to describe hobos, gypsies and layabouts. Newspaper articles addressing them tell stories of snowbirds coming to Florida, renting homes and setting up businesses. Apparently, they were quick to ask for credit to be extended to them but required cash from those wishing to do business. More often than not, after collecting the cash, rather than render the services due, they’d pack up and disappear with the cash neatly folded inside their pockets.
In an article appearing in the News Press dated Jan. 18, 1924: “The city (Key West) has been cleaned up of ‘snowbirds.’ As the annual visitor of the hobo type are called in Florida.” They were back the following year after year.
The Key West Citizen announced in their Dec. 27, 1939 edition: “In keeping with an old December custom, The Citizen wishes to warn its readers to beware of the so-called snowbirds that annually infest our community.”
The same article elaborated on who the snowbirds were: “Snowbirds, according to the Citizen’s definition, are men — and women — who have no known means of support, but who seem to live fairly well in the northern resorts in the summer and in the southern resorts in the winter. They look prosperous, talk in boxcar figures and have some fine ideas that would put Key West in the forefront as an up-and-coming business center — if they could find the money to promote their schemes. … Others are just plain ‘clip’ artists. They’ve got to live after they get here and are on the make from the minute they arrive.”
To say that snowbirds were not welcome in Florida once upon a time is an understatement. The Key West Citizen’s Dec. 20, 1941 edition stated: “‘Put me in jail where I can get a square meal or I will go to the edge of the city and jump off,’ said J. Allred, a snowbird. Sheriff Niles figured it would be cheaper to feed him than bury him so he gave him food and fare to get out of town.”
At one point, there was talk of creating camps for the snowbirds arriving by the hundreds every day in the Sunshine State. The Miami News reported on Aug. 12, 1932: “The state of Florida is trying to figure out what to do about its uninvited, non-paying winter guests. The same warm and sunny winters that bring the wealthy to the beaches and millionaire’s playgrounds over the peninsula likewise attract thousands of drifters, penniless and unambitious, who migrate southward with the birds to escape the cold. Central camps, either near Jacksonville or at someplace in the Everglades where the wanderers can be concentrated and fed cheaply, were discussed by the committee here and members said they felt the state was entitled to special consideration from the Reconstruction Finance Corp. because of the problem of caring for outside unemployes as well as its own.”
These days, when Florida locals start seeing the annual influx of cars with license plates from Canada and our northern states that mark the annual migration of snowbirds to the pleasant winter climate offered by the Sunshine State, no one is getting up in arms. Certainly, newspapers are not issuing warnings about them. Unlike the snowbirds that first started migrating to Florida every winter, the sign of the annual migration is what local industries have been waiting for after the late summer and early fall months.
While our winter guests bring traffic, their presence also supports many of the people who are lucky enough to call the islands home. Buckle up, everyone. It’s snowbird season. In the words of that late, great island host, Mr. Roarke, “Smiles, everyone! Smiles!”