HUDSON, Fla. — You can hear the sanctuary squawking. With 900 parrots it sounds like how you would imagine a rainforest. The Florida Exotic Bird Sanctuary encompasses 3.5 acres in the heart of Hudson.

Egrets, herons and spoonbills show off their resplendent breeding plumage of silken white, blues and pinks as they crowd into trees budding out for spring. This island, in Clay Bottom Pond at Houston ...