Fort Zachary Taylor State Park
601 Howard England Way, Key West
Fort Zachary Taylor State Park is a great place to look for migrants in the spring and fall. The native hardwood hammock area is easily accessible via the first parking lot on your right as you enter the park. (It is about a third of a mile from the entrance.) Keep an eye out for warblers, thrushes, tanagers and other songbirds. The adjacent moat area is good for seeing Belted Kingfisher, Red-breasted Merganser, American Coon, Common Gallinule, Tricolored Heron, and the occasion Great White Heron. The open field on the west end of the park often has swallows and sometimes grass-dwelling birds such as Upland Sandpipers and Bobolinks. The open field also allows enough vista to catch sight of reports and Magnificent Frigatebirds.
There is a fee to enter the park. It is open from 8 a.m. to sunset every day.
Indigenous Park & White Street Pier
1801 White Street, Key West
Indigenous Park is home to the Key West Wildlife Center, which is a rehabilitation center for injured wild animals. But the park also contains some great native tree habitat for songbirds, raptors, and wading birds. It is lively during the spring and fall migrations, but also a reliable place in summer for White-crowned Pigeon. Immediately across Atlantic Boulevard is Higgs’ Beach and the White Street Pier. Both are good for terns, gulls, and the occasional shore-hugging pelagic bird.
Key West Cemetery
701 Passover Lane, Key West
The Key West Cemetery can be home to migrating and overwintering songbirds. It is also possible to get good looks at White-crowned Pigeons along the edges. It is good for raptors, especially for Short-tailed Hawk, in the late fall and winter. If you visit, please be respectful of the graves (don’t sit on them or stand on them) and the people who may be there to mourn.
Fran Ford White Crown Pigeons Preserve & Little Hamaca Park
Government Road, Key West
In the summer, it is often easy to catch site of White Crowned Pigeons and the occasion Northern Cardinal. The towers at the far end of Government Road often function as perches for Ospreys, Bald Eagles, and Peregrine Falcons. The pond at the south end of the runway often has ducks, coots, wading birds, and shorebirds in the winter.