If all goes well for Harmony and her mate, Abe, a baby bald eagle will hatch on Wednesday. We stood within a few feet of the majestic eagles this weekend, at Flamingo Gardens in Davie.
The not-for-profit botanical garden and animal sanctuary is a great Plan B when you get tired of taking your kids to the beach. It’s in Davie, at 3750 S. Flamingo Road in southwest Broward County.
Adults, you’ll probably like it, too. Who wouldn’t want to stand a few feet from a bald eagle? How many times have I tried unsuccessfully in the Everglades to spot a Florida panther? Where else could I have purchased a cricket and larva embedded in candy “amber” and considered edible?
This place has snakes, ducks, turtles, talking parrots, a historic home and gorgeous native plants and towering trees. Check out my video to see some of the highlights, including the bald eagle, Harmony, flapping her wings. Read the jump to find out more about Harmony and her Abe, both injured eagles, and their attempts to become parents. Also, admission info is on the jump.
When we visited this weekend, a little girl was having her birthday party there. Not a bad idea. Also, teen-agers 16 and older can volunteer, a good way to earn some of those service hours they need to graduate.
Click here to check out the website.
Admission is $17 for adults, $8.50 for kids ages 4 to 11, and free for those 3 and younger. But my daughter brings home coupons wheels from school, and there was a coupon for Flamingo Gardens on it. Also, click here for a printable coupon.
Laura Wyatt, curator for wildlife, told me a little more about those awesome bald eages. Harmony, shown in the video flapping her wings, has a permanent injury on her lift wing. It’s the equivalent of breaking your wrist and elbow.
Her mate, Abe, is missing an entire wing. It was thought to have been broken off by the antenna of a semi truck. He came to live in Flamingo Gardens from central Florida in the late 1990s, Wyatt said. He and Harmony (also called “Miss America” by Wyatt) were paired together about seven years ago and have been trying to create an eaglet. But Abe has trouble properly mating because of that missing wing, Wyatt said, so none of their eggs has been viable.
They’re sitting on two eggs now (Wyatt said Abe does more of the egg-sitting than his “wife.” He does most of the work, while she stands around screaming. No comment!). One will hatch Wednesday, Feb. 24, if it’s viable. The other will hatch 72 hours later, if it’s viable, she said.
