Visit Oscar Scherer State Park on March 21 to celebrate the Florida scrub-jay!

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Mark your calendars for the 17th Annual Florida Scrub-Jay Festival! Everyone is invited to join us on Saturday, March 21, at Oscar Scherer State Park in Osprey, for a day of celebration and discovery. This special event honors Florida's only endemic songbird, the Florida scrub-jay, which can be found nowhere else in the world but right here in the Sunshine State. Come learn about this remarkable species and the unique habitats it calls home.

This year's family-friendly event, organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), runs from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The festival will offer guided walks, exhibits, vendors, kids' activities, live music, food trucks and more. Festival goers will also get opportunities to learn more about Florida scrub-jays and chat with FWC biologists and partners helping to conserve this federally-listed threatened species.

Oscar Scherer State Park is located at 1843 S. Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL 34229. The event will be held along Lake Osprey. When you arrive, look for the third right-hand-turn after the ranger station. Park admission is $5 per vehicle or free with a Florida State Park annual pass. The festival is free with park admission. For more information visit the 2026 Florida Scrub-Jay Festival event page on the FWC's Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail Facebook page.

Florida scrub-jays don't migrate, which means wildlife viewers are able to observe the life of a scrub-jay family throughout the year. One of the distinctions of the Florida scrub-jay is its unique cooperative family lifestyle.

"Florida scrub-jays live in family groups made up of a breeding pair and their offspring," said Danielle Goodvin, FWC Assistant Avian Conservation Coordinator. "Juvenile scrub-jays often stay with the family as 'helpers' for a year or more after fledging, helping defend the family territory and raise newly hatched chicks."

Florida scrub-jays rely on sandy, open scrub habitat with low vegetation to thrive. They are found in some of the highest and driest parts of Florida, ancient sandy ridges along the middle of the state, old sand dunes along the coasts and sandy deposits along rivers in the interior.

If you are wondering what their calls sound like, some say it's more of a screech than a song. Hear the sound of a Florida scrub-jay by going to AllAboutBirds.org and searching for Florida scrub-jay.

People can help Florida scrub-jays by:

• Learning about and supporting habitat management practices such as prescribed fires for scrub habitat on FWC Wildlife Management Areas, including the Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife and Environmental Area, Salt Lake WMA and Platt Branch WEA.
• Keeping cats indoors near scrub-jay habitat.
• Promoting healthy native insect populations by reducing use of insecticides around homes and golf courses. Scrub-jays (and other native wildlife) feed on insects.
• Reporting harassment or harm to scrub-jays or their nests to FWC's Wildlife Alert Hotline, 888-404-FWCC (3922).
• Volunteering with the Audubon Society's Jay Watch community science program.

Find out more about Florida scrub-jays by going to MyFWC.com/Imperiled, clicking on "Listed Species," "Birds" and then "Florida scrub-jay."