More than a century ago, the discovery of a hidden bird refuge in the Everglades led down a path of greed, vanity, and murder. And that’s just the beginning of the story.
In the fall of 1889, George Elliott Cuthbert was steering his canoe along a lake edge deep in Florida’s Great Mangrove Swamp when he saw a white feather floating on a current. A fisherman and ship captain, he had been canvassing the area for days, watching birds fly between their foraging grounds and a mysterious central locale, toting fish or frogs to feed their nestlings. But where was the hub? Rumors from Seminole traders had enticed him to sail 80 miles from his home on Marco Island on the Gulf Coast, then hack, wade, and drag a canoe through the mangrove tangle for days to reach this remote chain of lakes. Assailed by mosquitoes and thick-tongued from a dwindling supply of fresh water, he almost gave up. Until he saw the feather.
Cuthbert bushwhacked in the direction of the current, which opened to a vast lake. Far ahead, he saw what he came for—“a flower, a beautiful white blossom,” as he told his children. It was a 2-acre islet of mangroves, so thickly dotted with nesting birds and newborns—thousands of great and snowy egrets, ibises, wood storks, tricolored herons, and the odd, circus-colored roseate spoonbill—that it bloomed. He moored his craft on the rookery and hid among the branches.
Then he raised his rifle and shot the adults at close range. He scalped a tuft of feathers off each of their backs. The chicks were left alone, to starve.
Cuthbert was chiefly after the egrets’ nuptial head plumage, called aigrettes in the fashion press. At the turn of the century, these unique, otherworldly feathers, which grow only during the nesting season, were worth $32 an ounce—double the price of gold. Aigrettes were the most prized feather in the plume trade: the massive market in wild bird plumage that adorned women’s hats. Aigrettes’ loosely spaced barbs render them so filmy that they practically levitate, lending grace to the movements of the woman underneath. This feather’s popularity meant that all of the more accessible egret rookeries had long been depleted. The islet that Cuthbert found was probably the last place in Florida where a super colony of egrets still thrived.
One of Cuthbert’s two trips to the rookery netted him $1,800—more than $50,000 in today’s dollars. With the earnings, he purchased half of Marco Island, a schooner, and a houseful of fine furniture. Then Cuthbert gave up plume hunting to farm his land. Cuthbert’s half of the island was sold long ago, and it’s now covered with condos and high-rise resorts and worth almost $5 billion.
George Elliott Cuthbert took plenty away from this secret place, but he gave it two things: its name and its vigorous but short-lived fame. In the decades after Cuthbert’s discovery, this isolated thumbprint of land that is now part of Everglades National Park was sought out, fought over, fought for, lionized, and then forgotten. Today, few people know or care about Cuthbert Rookery. Yet even after a century of protection, its future is still precarious. The rookery remains an enduring symbol of the high-stakes struggle to protect the Everglades from a host of threats.
“Cuthbert Rookery was like finding the lost city of gold,” says Sonny Bass, who was the park’s senior wildlife biologist for 36 years. Its value is rooted in its location. The islet sits along the brackish zone where the saltwater of Florida Bay meets Everglades freshwater flowing from the north. This estuary, historically one of the world’s ecologically richest, yields a bounty of the small fish that wading birds eat. An island in that estuary, Cuthbert Rookery has a natural moat that has kept the birds safe from critters like raccoons, but other predators were a little more resourceful.
“Cuthbert kept his secret for a long time,” says Bass. “But eventually, other hunters began following him.” The refuge would regain birds after each gunning, only to be “shot out” again and again. “You coulda walked right around the ruke-ry on them birds’ bodies,” reported one local witness after a 1904 cleanout. “Between four and five hundred of ’em.” Once, two hunting parties reportedly turned their rifles on one another, sinking the boats and forcing a wretched slog back to camp through the crocodile-infested thicket.
Hello. We received the two boxes today with the four Hansenne pigeons. Arrived in excellent condition.
She is SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL! Thank you guys for looking out for me. Can’t say enough about how much I love the bird and birds you have sent me.
Thank you so much, i got the bird! He's so beautiful, pin tail apple body, nice wing :)
Hello there, My name is Mike and live in Az, I had racing pigeons when I was young and now Im not young haha 61, Semi retired and determined to move to a place where I can fly birds again, want to get my grandkids involved. Anyway as a kid I flew some Sions and really enjoyed your website. When Im ready would love to get a few Sions again and see how they do. Any advice for an old newbie? lol
Hey Donnie, Saw your Birds on Ipigeon and must say, those are some Beautiful Heitzmans. They are very true to what I called the real thing. Beautiful Hansennes as well. Take Care, Chuck
Hi
I have placed the pigeon recieved from you recently in a priority express shipment back to you in same box recieved. Bird was beautiful and healthy but we realized it’s nature is such that it needs to fly and be a racing pigeon. We can’t offer that life to it and realize it was a mistake to try this based on our situation
Bird has had not been outside and has been confined indoors in isolation since recieved.
Please give it the home it deserves.
Appreciate the care you took getting it to us!!!
Need some color on my team. Had some sion couple years ago when i had a partner who sick and could not care for his own birds. He liked sions so i bought some from you on pigeonauction.com. We alot of fun his sions against my team .He has since past on. His family called me and thanked me for letting fly with me he really looked forward race day. HE WON EVERY WEEK
Path: https://www.clayhavenfarms.com/pigeons/for-sale
Thank you guys so much for allowing me the opportunity to love these birds.
Thanks again for the most beautiful Pure Paul Sions pigeons ever!! The loft is full of happy sounds from the birds strutting around in their new home. Y’all were so easy to work thru my problems of birds I chose.
Thanks a million times over Pam and Donnie. Your friend Jimi
Good evening
What a surprised New Year’s gift from you guys
I received the very nice young pure white hansennes hen this pm.
I was not aware that you sent her already/
Thanks for sending 12046
I really like her.
Please keep me posted when you have bastins availabe
Wishing you a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Thanks so much
I received the birds this morning.
As I expected, they are all very pretty and healthy.
I need a nice sion cock to pair up with my almost white hen.
I believed, I inquired a white splash white sion cock,
Not sure if he is still available, trying to breed out pure white sions
From your loft.
The Hansenne cock, very handsome, pls keep me posted for a solid
White hen. The hen very beautiful, can’t
Wait what they will yield.
Thanks so much
I’m super stoked for new birds!. Second new loft in Austin Texas. I’m really looking for 4 to 5 pair.