For the Birds: Volunteering as Ministry

The gardens provide a 25,000 SF free-flight aviary, a home to a stunning array of Everglades and wading birds, most of whom are permanently injured or too imprinted by humans to fend for themselves in the wild. Celebrating its 40th anniversary in October 2021, it was the first center of its kind in the U.S. and a living monument to interspecies harmony. The brown pelicans, Florida wood storks, laughing gulls, cormorants, roseate spoonbills, American pelicans, whistling ducks, common Gallinules, various heron species live in casual specific groups within the enclosure, unimpressed by the humans strolling through although the ducks and ibises enjoy hand feeding.

 Earth Activism and Volunteering as a Ministry

Volunteering in the aviary is healing and often meditative experience; the spiritual exchange between the birds and humans is palpable. Sitting in the stillness, enveloped by bird sounds and wind in the trees becomes an etheric experience. In this energy, the photographs I take to capture more than their physical bodies; they expose their souls, their essence.

Every county/region has a wildlife rehab facility or sanctuary, and as most are non-profit organizations that depend on donations, they also welcome the gifts of time, energy, and presence. Volunteering at wildlife sanctuaries and working closely with them is a mutually healing experience. There is so much to learn from them. It reminds us, too, how elastic our hearts are, however expanding is our capacity to love.