The conservation and breeding program at Flamingo Gardens is vital to the Everglades. The different zones are represented through the display of native plants that the birds live among. The 25,000 square foot aviary has over 250 birds representing more than 45 species native to Florida, most of whom are permanently injured and no longer able to live in the wild. We saw a few pelicans with injured wings.Īs you walk through the aviary you traverse the five unique ecosystems- coastal prairie, mangrove swamp, cypress forest, subtropical hardwood hammock, and sawgrass prairie- of the Florida Everglades. There are a variety of owls, vultures, hawks, falcons as well as Golden and Bald eagles. After we learned about these at-risk, endangered, or injured birds, we fluttered over to the aviary. It is a genetic mutation that makes their feathers white.Īfter we watched the Wildlife Encounter Show we checked out the Birds of Prey area. My kids (and me too!) really enjoyed getting to see all the peacocks roaming around the paths.ĭuring our Wildlife show, we learned that the white peacocks that roam flamingo Gardens are not albino ones, but are actually Leucism Peacocks. The kids used magnifying glasses to check out the bugs that are found in Florida. Inside the Gallery space, we checked out some live insects. He used a mixture of different kinds of wood for each sculpture, such as willow, black walnut, and cedar. The plaques near the insects describe the different materials that artist David Rogers used to make the sculptures. Throughout the gardens were 10 different moments for you to taken in the beautiful sculptures. There even is a 10′ tall Daddy Long Legs and a 17′ long Praying Mantis! The ants weigh 725 pounds each- far more than the itty bitty insects that inspired the sculptures. Under the canopy of 200 year old oaks, we checked out 10′ long ants. When we visited we enjoyed getting to see sculptures of bugs of all sizes as part of the David Roger’s Big Bugs exhibit. Wildlife Encounters are presented daily at 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:30 pm (weather permitting) at the Wildlife Encounter Outdoor Amphitheater. It was a good reminder that it is best to have trained professionals care for injured animals. Her broken wing did get the property care it needed and didn’t set properly. Unfortunately, the people that found her didn’t immediately take her to get proper care, instead they decided to keep her as a pet ( a federal offense). Pandora, the owl, lives at Flamingo Gardens because she has an injured wing, so she is unable to care for herself. The one eyed hawk was justly named Captain Jacky in honor of the pirates that are missing an eye. We had a great time learning about a hawk, an owl, and a very large Burmese Python names Bertha. When we arrived, we were notified that one of the Wildlife Encounter Shows was about to begin so we beelined it over there to get our seats for a show. Flamingo Gardens is one of the gardens that our membership provides us access to. Last year, I purchased a Bok Tower Gardens membership and we enjoyed going there, as well as the other places in their reciprocal membership program. ![]() ![]() What’s a 3 hour drive each way to go to a botanical garden?! ![]() One Sunday night I felt a bit impulsive and decided that I would kick off the week by driving across the state to get to Miami so we could go to Flamingo Gardens. I also tried to keep our kids busy with really fun adventures. We spent the summer doing a lot of fun things like going to the pool, beach, skate park, doing a lot of drawing, painting, and trips to the library.
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