Calusa Rookery

An active, multi-species rookery in an area as heavily developed as Kendall/West Kendall is VERY rare! It is located on the southern end of 168 acres of privately owned parks and recreation greenspace (the former Calusa Golf Course) . The property has been closed by the owner, Facundo Bacardi, since 2011, and was protected from development by a land use covenant until it was released 47 years early in Oct 2020. After a proposed large-scale private luxury development application was submitted in February 2021, concerned residents documented the nesting, foraging and roosting birds and identified and reported imperiled tricolored heron nesting. Thanks to resident documentation and advocacy, FWC added the Calusa Rookery to their map of imperiled wading bird colonies in September 2021. After Miami-Dade County DERM independently verified imperiled tricolored heron nesting in 2022, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava issued a memo requiring that the Calusa Rookery be preserved.

Species documented to be foraging/roosting at the Calusa Rookery: snail kite, great egret, snowy egret, cattle egret, State Threatened tricolored heron, State Threatened little blue heron, green heron, great blue heron, anhinga, ibis, black necked stilt, black crowned night heron, Federally Threatened wood stork and a rare redhead!

Species documented to be nesting at the Calusa Rookery: great egret, cattle egret, imperiled tricolored heron and anhinga.

Calusa Rookery 2023 Breeding/Nesting Season

Photo credit: Dennis and Victoria Horn (DV Nature Photography) unless otherwise specified below