Volunteers built the boardwalk behind 93600 Overseas Highway in the 1990s. Since then hurricanes, tropical storms and king tides have worn it down plank by plank, and through all of it the path has kept carrying visitors past more than 40 non-releasable birds, from owls and hawks to songbirds and pelicans, out to the edge of Florida Bay.
That boardwalk is about to be replaced. If you live in Tavernier, the sanctuary walk is the part of the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center you see most. The center's injured-bird intake is at a different address, 92080 Overseas Highway, through a side door marked "BIRDGENCY," and the construction doesn't touch it.
A $600,000 Rebuild for a Path Volunteers Built
On Sept. 17, local officials, staff and neighbors gathered at the Laura Quinn Wild Bird Sanctuary for a groundbreaking, Keys Weekly reported. The replacement "Birdwalk" costs $600,000. The Monroe County Tourist Development Council is paying for all of it, so visitor tourism dollars are rebuilding a walk that neighbors have used for decades. Island Villa Construction is handling the installation.
Erin Allison became executive director in 2023. She told the crowd that as she began assessing the center's future, she "kept coming back to this boardwalk," and that she had thought it might take five years to make it happen. The groundbreaking came three years after she took over. Islamorada Mayor Don Horton spoke too, invoking the sanctuary's founder, Laura Quinn, the "Bird Lady." Quinn was a statistician and math teacher before she spent years rescuing and rehabilitating wild birds. The center has been doing that work since 1988.
According to Keys Weekly, sanctuary board president Dennis Caltagirone said the boardwalk had always been the "birdwalk":
"You're not walking through the beach. It should be a birdwalk because you're walking among the birds."
The timeline was still soft at the groundbreaking. Allison said the project was waiting on a Monroe County permit, that work should start within about a month, and that construction should take around six months. By those estimates, most of the construction would fall during this winter season. The sanctuary page on the center's site still lists the grounds as open daily from sunrise to sunset. So before bringing guests for a walk in the coming months, call the center or check its site.
Two Addresses on the Same Stretch of U.S. 1
The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center runs out of two locations along the Overseas Highway in Tavernier, and they do different jobs. The boardwalk rebuild affects only one of them.
| Laura Quinn Wild Bird Sanctuary | Mission Wild Bird Hospital | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 93600 Overseas Highway | 92080 Overseas Highway |
| What happens there | Self-guided boardwalk among permanent resident birds, ending at Florida Bay | Rehabilitation hospital, bird intake, education center and gift shop |
| Public hours | Sunrise to sunset daily, per the center's site | Education center and gift shop Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; injured-bird doorbell 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Visiting | Free, with a requested $10 donation per person | Side entrance labeled "BIRDGENCY" for injured birds; after-hours drop box |
| Affected by the Birdwalk project | Yes | No |
The hospital clinic was built in early 2014. Its rehabilitation areas are staff-only and kept separate from the public education center and gift shop. The center's own pages list staffed hospital hours two ways, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the home page and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the facility page. The injured-bird instructions use the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. doorbell window, and that's the one this guide uses.
The Sanctuary Visit, While the Old Boardwalk Still Stands
Until the crews arrive, the visit works the same way it always has. Walk-ins are free, the center asks for a $10 donation per person, and pets aren't allowed. Educational signs line the path, and the home page promotes pelican feeding. The center doesn't publish a set feeding time, though, so plan around it loosely.
For guests who want more than a self-guided loop, the center offers two paid tours:
- Guided sanctuary tour: $20 per person, Monday through Friday, booked at least three days ahead.
- Behind-the-scenes hospital tour: $100 for a group of up to four. It shows how the hospital runs but doesn't include seeing the patients.
This Friday, Oct. 30, could be the last big community night on the old boards. Owl-O-Ween runs from 4 to 8 p.m. at the sanctuary. It's free, donations are welcome, and the costume contest starts at 6 p.m. The Key Largo Chamber's listing adds games, arts and crafts, a conservation village and candy. Whether it's the last event before construction depends on when the permit comes through, which is one more reason to go.
The Door Marked BIRDGENCY
The sanctuary is where you visit birds that can't go back to the wild. The hospital at 92080 is where a bird you find on your seawall, in a mangrove fringe or tangled near your dock goes, in the hope that it can.
The center's injured-bird page lays out the steps:
- Find a container that breathes and has a lid, such as a cardboard box, a storage bin with air holes or a pet carrier. Put a towel on the bottom so the bird doesn't slide.
- Drape a towel, shirt or blanket over the bird and gently scoop it up.
- Set it in the container and close or cover the opening.
- Drive to 92080 Overseas Highway and pull up to the side entrance labeled "BIRDGENCY." Between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., ring the doorbell. If nobody answers, call the bird emergency hotline at (305) 852-4486 ext. 1. After 6 p.m., follow the instructions on the after-hours drop box by the door.
The home page lists the hotline as available 24/7. If you leave a voicemail after 8 p.m., the center says it will respond by the next morning.
The center is just as specific about what not to do. Don't offer food or water, because both can cause choking, aspiration or digestive trouble in a bird already weakened by trauma. Wear gloves, and don't put yourself at risk. Don't pet or handle the bird beyond the capture, and keep it somewhere dark and quiet. A bird that suddenly goes still isn't calming down. The center describes that stillness as a fear response that signals stress just as much as thrashing does.
Pelicans get their own handling notes on the center's page, starting with a warning about the beak. The page doesn't give a method for removing fishing line or a hook. For a hooked or tangled bird, call the hotline and let hospital staff guide you rather than working the line free yourself.
Where the Patients Come From
The center's tour page puts the hospital's caseload at about 1,000 injured wild birds a year. Keys Weekly has followed several of them back out of the hospital.
In a January 2025 story, Keys Weekly reported that a Keys resident had found a great white heron floating in an Islamorada canal in late November. After rehabilitation, it was released at Founders Park beach in Islamorada on Jan. 4 while onlookers watched. That same winter, two juvenile broad-winged hawks were found dehydrated in Key Largo. Staff treated them, and once recovered they were fitted with GPS transmitters through a collaboration with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and released at Fruit and Spice Park. Two hawks found in Key Largo became migration data.
Storm seasons add to the load. During the 2024 hurricane season, the center took in 20 evacuated birds from three other Florida rehabilitation facilities and admitted storm-displaced migratory warblers. When the sanctuary flooded, it moved its permanent residents into the hospital. That flooding is the same exposure that has been wearing down the old boardwalk.
Fishing line is the injury neighbors can do the most about. The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center partners with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's monofilament recycling program. The FWC bin map finds outdoor PVC collection bins at marinas, boat ramps and fishing piers, plus indoor bins at bait-and-tackle shops and nature centers. You can search by county or by your GPS location.
If you'd rather help before the bird reaches the doorbell, the volunteer page lists roles in bird rescue and transport, hospital and animal care, docent work on the sanctuary path, events and outreach, administration and the volunteer-run pop-up gift shop. Docents will have a new Birdwalk to work on once Island Villa Construction finishes.
Pierre-Marc has lived among these waters since 2008, and the birds along Florida Bay are part of the Tavernier he loves to show people. If you'd like to talk about homes along this stretch of the Overseas Highway, or just compare notes on the best spots to watch Florida Bay, Islamorada Life Realty would love to hear from you. Receive Exclusive Listings, and we'll keep you posted as the new Birdwalk opens.
