Sarasota bird refuge welcomes wounded fowl and bird watchers

Save our Seabirds, a nonprofit avian sanctuary in Sarasota, has a dual mission: to rehabilitate injured birds and to educate the public about the importance of conservation. As part of its educational work, the sanctuary’s Wild Bird Learning Center offers a self-guided Bird Walk through aviaries, ponds, and native foliage that provide a permanent home for about 100 nonreleasable injured birds.

The facility is located on City Island, a small barrier island owned by the city. The space was previously home to the Pelican Man’s Bird Sanctuary, a bird rehabilitation center created in 1988 by the late conservationist Dale Shields and operated until 2006. The current organization took over the space in 2008 and works to continue Shields’ mission.

Save Our Seabirds’ avian hospital treats about 1,200 birds annually, according to executive director Brian Walton, and most of them have been injured by human impact such as boat strikes, car strikes, entanglement in fishing lines, accidental poisoning, and destruction of habitat. “The goal of the hospital is treat, rehab and release, to see them back out in the wild,” Walton said in a phone interview. “Today, I think our census in the hospital is about 53 birds of various species that are being actively rehabbed, with the intent, the hope of being able to release them back into the wild.”

The rehabbing birds are not on public display to make sure they remain wild and don’t get used to being around people. Walton said many other birds are on display for visitors, so “people can come in, see about 80 different species of birds. And the idea is to inspire people about the beauty of birds and hopefully equip them with some tools to understand the challenges birds face and maybe things they can do differently.” 

The bird walk is open 365 days a year, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but Walton said the birds are most active during the first part of the day.

At noon daily, guests can hear a 5-10 minute keeper talk and watch what Walton called the “Pelican Feeding Frenzy,” when staff tosses fish to about 13 pelican residents. 

At 1 p.m., guests can watch “Ravenous Raptors,” when the keepers do another brief talk and feed birds of prey. 

Admission to the learning center is always free, and donations are appreciated. 

“If you want to do something fun, get on A.I. and run some scenarios of, if you rescue one pelican, in 10 years how many pelicans could that mean are in existence, because of that one pelican you rescued?” he said. “It’s an exponential impact every time we’re able to successfully release a bird. And that makes a difference, especially over a 40-year history of this location.” 

For more information, visit saveourseabirds.org or call 941-388-3010.