Bird Key (Miami)

Bird Key is a small uninhabited island within the city of Miami, Florida. It is located in Biscayne Bay, just east of the Upper Eastside neighborhood and south of the 79th Street Causeway. It is one of only two naturally formed islands in the upper bay, and is the only privately owned, uninhabited island.

Visiting the island without the owner's consent is considered trespassing. Trespassers disturb the colony of diverse, native birds that have used the island as a rookery for centuries. In 2012, the Miami Herald pieced together the island's history, noting its environmental significance and recounting how it fell into private hands. At that time, Bird Key was awash in trash, which was later cleaned by employees of Pelican Harbor Seabird Station and a group of volunteers.

In April, 2024, Bird Key's owner, Finlay Matheson, put the island on the market for $31.5 million, worrying environmentalists due to the fact that Bird Key is zoned resiential by Miami-Dade County and could, potentially, be developed with local governmental approval. As of May, 2024, various state and environmental groups were reportedly working together to buy the island and preserve it as a rookery. The details of those negotiations are not yet known.

References

'The island that Miami forgot: Historic Bird Key teems with pelicans, egrets, ibises — and trash,' by Terence Cantarella (Miami Herald)