Tom Sweets, executive director of the Key West Wildlife Center, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM this morning to talk about what’s happening at the center.
It’s been a busy morning today.
Sweets said, “We had a call this morning at about 6:35 regarding an American white pelican, those are the big white pelicans as opposed to our brown pelicans that we see all the time. There was a white pelican down on the side of the road of US 1 in the southbound lanes right at the Cudjoe Key fire station. So I was able to get up here and I did see the bird. It was a lot of traffic at that time of the morning but I was heading out from Key West. So I turned around and I put my hazards on and thankfully there was a construction crew that was behind me in a truck and they stopped and put their lights on. So we were able to stop that southbound lane of traffic and then I approached the bird and the bird flew off immediately which is a good sign. It’s better than not getting up or not being able to get off the road. But he flew over into the sort of mangrove area behind that on the base side. So I’ve just been spending my time searching for this bird. The bird may be okay, but we’ve had a couple recently of the white pelicans that were very weak from high parasite counts. They migrate through the area and they fly very high and sometimes they will come down, especially in this Cudjoe area. It’s a perfect environment for them, shallows, mangrove areas, and I just wanted to double check that he was not just sort of stuck on the shore somewhere on another side of the road. So I did a thorough check because we would like to get him in and just check him for parasites because he should not be down on the side of the road on US 1, there’s something going on there. But he was able to fly. So that’s a good sign. So maybe he will be okay.”
Are the rescue calls like this typically done solo?
Sweets said, “It depends on the situation and the time of day. I take most of the morning. So in the mornings from about six until nine, it’s usually a one person thing. But if we get into a situation where we need more people, there are volunteers and staffers that I can call. We try to break the shifts up into roughly eight hour shifts. It’s great on paper. It doesn’t always work out in reality. We do have support if we need it. But for especially early morning, it’s going to be me out there answering the calls. We have someone overnight as well that takes over. I do most of the early morning, daytime, afternoon calls and in the late afternoon evening, overnight, if we are fully staffed, which can always sort of be an issue, that’s covered by other people as well. So we do have a good team. But yes, for most of the calls and unless I’m going to need backup, it would be me out there.”
There is a renovation underway at the wildlife center currently.
Sweets said, “The wild bird aviary, that’s sort of the first phase of our raise the roof campaign. It’s actually speeding along, we’ve got it all the way down, stripped down to just the bare metal supports. The aviary is right now being redone and it’s coming out great. We’ve got a great crew, they’re stripping that down. Then we’re going to have another crew coming in and putting a new roof on. Then we’ve redesigned the aviary to make it more efficient and more comfortable for the birds under our care and our small number of permanent residents that we have. In June, we will start on the new clinic. So yes, on top of all the rescue calls and the 24 hour rescue line. Yes, we’ve got a lot of things, building projects going on just because our current clinic has served us well. But it’s really past its prime and it’s starting to really need replacing and so thankfully we’re getting all that done. It’s finally starting. It’s something we’ve really worked for and dreamed about for a long time. But it’s sort of funny when something like that actually starts to become a reality.”
The brown pelicans have started to move out of the area.
Sweets said, “They’re more than starting. A lot of them have left. Some of them don’t go that far north and some of them will go up into the mouth of the Mississippi and all the way up into the Great Lakes. Some of them, it sort of depends, but yes, most of them as people are aware they do leave the Keys, at least Key West, they leave in pretty big numbers. We always have some that stick around where it is their home territory. Most of those are the adults, most of the youngsters with the brown heads they do move on. They move around this time of year.”
It’s also baby bird season.
Sweets said, “I just want to remind people out there that we’ve got a lot of nesting activity all over the Keys right now. White ground pigeons, northern mockingbirds, grackles, so when these birds fledge from the nest, they do come down and spend time on the ground and they’re not going to be flying. That’s one of our big issues with calls this time of year is people thinking that a baby bird on the ground not flying is in distress or hurt. That’s natural. I can see why somebody might think that, but that is a stage that they all go through it. It is a vulnerable stage, but they all have to go through it because at some point, it’s safer on the ground than it is in the nest because a lot of the predators will start targeting the nest. So they try to get the babies out of the nest as soon as they can and the parents will still be providing care. Also our dove species, our mourning doves, our white winged doves, they will just sit on the ground and not move around at all. Their basic job is to stay camouflaged until they’re old enough to fly. Then the songbirds, the mockingbirds and grackles, they will be hopping around and making noise and you will see their parents more often bringing them food. So we just ask if you have questions about a baby bird on the ground, or if it’s a really bad spot, a lot of those white crowns have their nests, and then the fledglings come down on Duvall, lower Duvall and that can cause a problem with traffic and things. So there are some times when we do have to intervene. But we want to make sure that’s the last resort. We want to try to leave these babies on the ground without disturbing them or without taking them home and let the parents finish the job. But any questions people have about baby birds, they certainly can call the number 305-292-1008.”
For more information, click here: https://keywestwildlifecenter.org/