Florida’s Non-Native Bird Species
Florida’s Exotic Avifauna:
In 2017, Florida’s exotic avifauna numbered 261 species, with 172 of these verifiable from photographic or specimen evidence. Several factors account for this richness:
1) ports and associated quarantine facilities at Fort Lauderdale and Miami processed many of the birds imported from the American tropics;
2) the presence of a thriving avicultural industry;
3) numerous public and private collections;
4) a tropical year-round climate suitable for the survival of virtually any species;
5) hundreds of square miles of urbanized areas landscaped with plants from around the world, with species flowering or fruiting in all months of the year;
6) supplemental food and water from thousands of well-stocked feeders and bird baths;
7) transient people who may release pets rather than move them;
8) affluent people able to afford high-priced species such as cockatoos, toucans, and hornbills;
9) strong avicultural traditions in some ethnic communities; and
10) occasional tropical storms that may damage bird cages and allow their inhabitants to escape.
The exotic avifauna of Florida is quite varied, but is concentrated on three families: waterfowl (25 species), parrots (82 species), and estrildid finches (17 species). The majority of these species, however, are represented by single individuals or small groups seen for only short periods of time. Very few exotic birds in Florida are widespread and common; even three of the established species (White-winged Parakeet, Red-whiskered Bulbul, and Spot-breasted Oriole) have extremely limited ranges in certain urban/suburban regions.
Spot-breasted Oriole Icterus pectoralis – ©Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
About 30 other exotics are also breeding outside of captivity but populations of most remain small, usually in the dozens of pairs. The three exceptions are Red Junglefowl, which seems well established at Key West, Indian Peafowl, which is fairly widespread in the peninsula and Scaly-breasted Munia, which is an established breeding species in coastal California from the Mexican border to well over 300 miles north into San Louis Obispo County. The species seems to be fairly well established in coastal areas of the Northern Gulf of Mexico from the Westernmost Florida Panhandle through Alabama and Mississippi into Louisiana, and in the area of Houston, Texas. If the individual population within any of those 5 states is truly established, it has yet to be determined.