Miami Rare Bird Farm

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The Miami Rare Bird Farm, a working breeding farm as well as tourist attraction, was located south of Miami on US 1 at Kendall. This area now has heavy commercial development. In 1956 admission was $1.40 for adults, 35 cents for children. The ten acre park housed a variety of animals. In fact, the most famous alumni of the Miami Rare Bird Farm wasn't a bird, but a chimp. Enos, sold by the Rare Bird Farm in 1960, made the first United States orbital space flight in November of 1961, successfully paving the way for John Glenn. In 1961 several Red-Whiskered Bulbuls from India escaped the Miami Rare Bird Farm and established themselves in South Florida, where they now number in the hundreds. While not a major threat to native birds, they have unwittingly helped in spreading seeds of the non-native and noxious Brazilian Pepper.

Return To Florida's Lost Tourist Attractions, a site celebrating the now defunct tourist attractions of the Sunshine State. The attraction profiled on this page no longer exists. This site Copyright (c) 1997-2011 by Robert H. Brown Postcard image courtesy of the Florida State Archives Photographic Collection.