Florida Scrub-Jay in South Brevard, Florida

In South Brevard, Florida scrub-jays live on Brevard County's scrub sanctuaries in Malabar and on Micco Road and in scattered habitat inside the City of Palm Bay, and the state has targeted more scrub at Valkaria.

The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, run by FWC, says Malabar Scrub Sanctuary protects scrub habitat complete with breeding populations of Florida Scrub-Jays (FWC birding trail, Malabar Scrub), and that the high-quality flatwoods and scrub at Micco Scrub Sanctuary are home to Florida Scrub-Jays, the bird it names as that site's species highlight (FWC birding trail, Micco Scrub). Both sanctuaries are managed by Brevard County.

Palm Bay's birds belong to a wider group. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notice of July 25, 2006 said scrub-jays near Palm Bay lots were part of a larger complex of scrub-jays in a matrix of urban and natural settings across southern Brevard and northern Indian River counties, and that 20 families persisted within the City of Palm Bay (Federal Register, July 25, 2006).

Acreage depends on who is counting. The Town of Malabar lists Malabar Scrub Sanctuary at 577 acres (Town of Malabar) while the FWC trail listing gives 568 acres (FWC).

The scrub-jays of Palm Bay, Malabar and Micco carry three layers of protection: federal threatened status under the Endangered Species Act since June 3, 1987, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Florida's Endangered and Threatened Species Rule.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's ECOS record lists the Florida scrub-jay, the bird of the Malabar and Micco scrub, as Threatened wherever found, with a listing date of 06-03-1987 in the Southeast Region (USFWS ECOS). FWC lists the federal status as Threatened, the state status as Federally-designated Threatened, Florida Natural Areas Inventory ranks of G1G2/S2S1 (globally imperiled, critically imperiled) and an IUCN status of Vulnerable (FWC species profile).

Brevard County matters to the species as a whole. ECOS names Brevard County, especially the coastal scrubs of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Kennedy Space Center, among the places holding the largest remaining populations (USFWS ECOS). Farther south the picture is fragments: the state says the strip of coastal scrub that once paralleled the Indian River in Brevard County is now a set of small fragments surrounded by housing developments (FDEP Florida Forever plan).

The federal file is still active. ECOS lists a 2006 notice of a 90-day petition finding on petitions to reclassify the Florida scrub-jay from threatened to endangered, a 2019 notice of draft recovery plan revisions, and a June 6, 2024 notice initiating 5-year status reviews that includes the species (USFWS ECOS). As of October 18, 2026, the ECOS record for the birds of Palm Bay, Malabar and Micco still shows Threatened. ECOS listed 139 habitat conservation plan entries for the species when read October 18, 2026 (USFWS ECOS). Telling it from a blue jay is a matter of what is missing: USFWS says Florida scrub-jays resemble other jays but lack a crest, white-tipped wings or tail feathers, and black barring (USFWS species page).

South Brevard scrub-jay land is bought through the Brevard Coastal Scrub Ecosystem project, which FDEP's plan shows was added to the priority list in 1993 and which it says will protect some of the best scrub fragments in the county.

FDEP's 2026 Florida Forever plan puts the project at 34,187 acres, with 22,306 acres acquired and 11,881 acres remaining (FDEP Florida Forever plan). The plan calls scrub on the Atlantic Coastal Ridge one of the most endangered natural upland communities in North America (FDEP Florida Forever plan). The South Brevard pieces came in early. On December 10, 1992 the state's Land Acquisition Advisory Council added a Scrub Jay Refugia project to the Conservation and Recreational Lands list, sponsored by Brevard County, and one of its five sites was Valkaria, about 2,764 acres with multiple owners, of which Brevard County had acquired 155 acres (FDEP Florida Forever plan). In 1995 an addition brought in Malabar Scrub Sanctuary (395 acres) and the Jordan Blvd site (833 acres) (FDEP Florida Forever plan).

Brevard County carries much of the cost and the work. As an acquisition partner, Brevard County put up $10 million toward buying project land and $2.6 million for site management, the plan says, and the county will manage the original six sites as well as the Valkaria/Micco Expansion Site added in 2002 (FDEP Florida Forever plan). It adds that mitigation agreements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have generated some funds for management within the Valkaria Core area (FDEP Florida Forever plan).

FDEP's element summary for the project lists the Florida scrub-jay at G2/S2 alongside the Eastern indigo snake and gopher tortoise (FDEP Florida Forever plan), the same species the Town of Malabar names for Malabar Scrub Sanctuary.

Palm Bay lots in scrub-jay areas are built under a city-wide USFWS Incidental Take Permit that adds an environmental service fee to each building permit and bans clearing in scrub-jay polygons from March 1 through June 30.

USFWS approved both the city's Habitat Conservation Plan and the Incidental Take Permit, and both cover the Florida scrub-jay and the Eastern indigo snake. Palm Bay describes the permit as City-wide: lot owners inside scrub-jay areas may build, and the city must collect an environmental service fee with each building permit it issues, money a conservation agency named by USFWS puts toward buying large tracts of habitat. Chapter 172, Environmental Regulations, of the city code holds the details (City of Palm Bay Habitat Conservation Plan).

Clearing in the Palm Bay polygons is allowed during the nesting season only where biological surveys find no active scrub-jay nest, where vegetation poses a persistent fire hazard to adjacent developed property, or within 25 feet of an adjacent developed lot with encroaching nuisance vegetation (City of Palm Bay). For protected species questions the city points residents to its Growth Management Department, (321) 733-3042, and it lists 1 (888) 404-3922 for reporting a wildlife violation to FWC (City of Palm Bay).

Because the city describes the Incidental Take Permit as City-wide, it is a permit for lots inside Palm Bay, and the city says gopher tortoise permits must be obtained from FWC (City of Palm Bay).

Scrub-jay habitat in Malabar, Micco and the rest of the state project needs fire: FWC calls prescribed burning an essential element of conserving the Florida scrub-jay, and FDEP classes every site in the Brevard Coastal Scrub Ecosystem project as fire-maintained.

FWC says fire suppression degrades scrub-jay habitat and that the population has declined 90% in the past century from habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation, with vehicle strikes as a further threat (FWC species profile). FDEP adds that all sites in the Brevard Coastal Scrub Ecosystem project are fire-maintained communities with an immediate need for fire management (FDEP Florida Forever plan).

On the ground in Malabar, the town says the sanctuary's trails weave through several areas recently treated with prescribed fires, and it calls Malabar Scrub Sanctuary a refuge for the Florida scrub-jay, gopher tortoise and Eastern indigo snake, all species that benefit from controlled burns (Town of Malabar). The sanctuary is split into east and west sides by the Richard E. Cameron Sr. and Volunteers Preserve, and its east side can be reached from the Al Tuttle Trail by the Capon Street Pedestrian Bridge in neighboring Palm Bay.

Urban scrub in Palm Bay is a different case. The 2006 USFWS notice warned that scrub-jays in urban areas typically do not successfully produce young that survive to adulthood and that fire exclusion slowly results in vegetative overgrowth of the habitat that remains (Federal Register, July 25, 2006). The same notice concluded that scrub-jays within the City of Palm Bay are unlikely to persist over the long term and that conservation should target large parcels outside the direct influence of urbanization.

The two South Brevard sanctuaries FWC lists for scrub-jays are Malabar Scrub Sanctuary at 1501 Malabar Woods Blvd. in Malabar and Micco Scrub Sanctuary at 500 Micco Rd., both free and open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

At Malabar Scrub, FWC says the paved road through the site is accessible, but the 8.3 miles of sandy scrub trails for hiking and biking give better chances to see scrub-jays, and morning hours are best for birds (FWC birding trail). At Micco Scrub, the 3-mile red loop has the best birding but little shade, the 1.5-mile white loop has some shade, and parts of the trails can flood after heavy rains (FWC birding trail).

Neither Malabar Scrub nor Micco Scrub has a restroom in the FWC listings, both list the phone (321) 255-4466, and the Town of Malabar notes restrooms at the adjacent Malabar Community Park (Town of Malabar). Last verified: October 18, 2026, on the FWC, USFWS, FDEP, City of Palm Bay and Town of Malabar websites.