Our Airboat route quietly circles Bird Island so guests can view the spectacular Florida wildlife!
Bird Island is within view from the Black Hammock peninsula with coastal birds flying between land masses.
Some of the birds documented here are: White Pelican, Purple Gallinule, Bald Eagle, Limpkin, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork, White Ibis, Cattle Egret, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Boat-tailed Grackle, Black Vulture, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Black-necked Stilt, Pileated Woodpecker, Green Heron, Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, Wild Turkey …and several other unidentified plovers, hummingbirds, wrens and sparrows.
Bird Island on Lake Jesup
Our facilities rests on the banks of Lake Jesup and is adjacent to the Black Hammock Wilderness area. Multiple Osprey nests and families are directly on the property. We do not charge an entry fee to visit our site and we offer a FREE live alligator exhibit as well.
We also do not feed, harass or interact with the abundant bird population or wildlife and we are witnessing more and more successful breeding species every year. Wild Boar, White-tailed Deer, Marsh Rabbits and Alligator Gar also inhabit the lake as well and can be seen on occasion. We embrace the seasonal birds, plant life, amazing cypress trees, thousands of alligators and the general wonder of this ecosystem.
History
On May 22, 1837, Lieutenant Peyton, with a command of twenty men and four Creek Indians, set out from Fort Mellon to explore the little known upper reaches of the St Johns River. They camped that night on what is now aptly known as Bird Island on Lake Jesup. One hundred and sixty four years later to the day, four members of Seminole Audubon Society, accompanied by two biologists from St Johns River Water Management District, surveyed birds on the island, finding an amazing 512 wading birds.
