It’s bird season! 10 places to see South Florida’s coolest birds and other wildlife

It’s spring migration season in South Florida, and not just for us humans. The birds are going crazy. Birds from Central America and the Caribbean are making their way here, while storks are hatching eggs in local nests and their chicks are chirping away, begging for food. Songbirds, limpkins and woodpeckers are also noisily making sure they are heard, while burrowing owls are popping up in open pastures.

Despite the heavy development and construction that surrounds us in Palm Beach and Broward counties, there are abundant opportunities to see not just birds but alligators, rabbits, turtles, butterflies and so many other wildlife species.

Pick a site from this bird-watching guide of 10 picturesque spots, and bring along your binoculars, hat and camera or smartphone (for smartphone users, Google Lens is an essential app that will identify the bird or other wildlife you just snapped a picture of).

Make sure to head out soon. In the coming weeks, it could become too hot for even the most avid nature-lovers.

Palm Beach County

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach; fws.gov/refuge/arm_loxahatchee

The refuge offers walks on The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, as well as guided hikes and bike rides along its miles of marshlands and canals. There’s also a .4-mile boardwalk behind the Visitor Center for a stroll through a peaceful cypress swamp filled with majestic trees knee-deep in water. It’s a breezy and humbling promenade that shows what the Everglades used to look like before human beings drained its marshes. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a woodpecker, an owl, a cardinal or an alligator. “No birding trip to Palm Beach County is complete without a stop here,” according to Audubon Everglades.

Green Cay Nature Center & Wetlands, 12800 Hagen Ranch Road, Boynton Beach; discover.pbcgov.org/parks/Locations/Green-Cay.aspx

Over the past few days, photographers posting in the ”Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Nature Preserve” Facebook group have reported red-shouldered hawks, Eastern screech owls, green herons, spoonbills and multicolored glossy ibises, not to mention dragonflies, lizards and alligators. According to Coral Springs birder and certified Florida Master Naturalist Bruce Pickholtz: “This is the one place you absolutely cannot miss if you’re interested in birding in Palm Beach.”

Spanish River Park, 3001 N. State Road A1A, Boca Raton; myboca.us/facilities/facility/details/spanish-river-park-55

FloridaBirdingTrail.com recommends walking the hiking path on the western edge of the park and checking the trees for songbirds and migrants such as the blue-winged warbler and Swainson’s thrush. Audubon Everglades calls the park “perhaps the best location in the county for migrating passerines,” which are perching birds. The park is between the beach and the Intracoastal Waterway, so make a day of it and bring your beach chairs, fishing gear, bathing suit and food to grill.

Wakodahatchee Wetlands, 13270 Jog Road, Delray Beach; visitdelraybeach.org/plays/wakodahatchee-wetlands

The Wakodahatchee boardwalk takes visitors over water and islands that attract an assortment of birds, along with turtles, alligators, marsh rabbits and frogs. The vibrant Facebook group “Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Nature Preserve” records hawks and herons catching fish and taking care of their young, purple gallinules and blue jays in flight, and the occasional bobcat family hunting for food. At the moment, wood storks are hatching their eggs and zealously guarding their nests. Chicks are chirping as they wait for their parents to bring back food. It’s a dazzling sight as the storks and their rookeries have practically taken over Wakodahatchee’s water-surrounded trees.

Yamato Scrub, 701 Clint Moore Road, Boca Raton; discover.pbcgov.org/erm/NaturalAreas/Yamato-Scrub.aspx

Bird-watchers have recorded least grebes, white ibises, red-bellied woodpeckers, grackles, cardinals and European starlings at this 217-acre preserve, which has a 10-acre basin marsh and more than 3 miles of hiking trails. Gopher tortoises and rabbits also make their home here, and hikers have found rare Florida wildflowers, including Tarflower, a shrub with white flowers, and Skyblue lupine, which has striking bluish and lavender petals.

Broward County

Brian Piccolo Sports Park, 9501 Sheridan St., Cooper City; broward.org/Parks/pages/park.aspx?park=4

What? A sports park that protects endangered owls? According to FloridaBirdingTrail.com: “Believe it or not, this is one of the best sites to see Florida Burrowing Owls in the state.” These little owls bore into the ground and love open prairies, where they eat insects and other small animals. They face persistent threats to their habitats from construction, floods and human harassment. At the sports park, rangers safeguard the families by roping off their holes in the ground; the birds are still visible from a distance.

Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, 6503 N. Ocean Drive, Dania Beach; floridastateparks.org/mizell

Nicknamed “M-J State Park,” this beach park has the distinction of having the greatest number of bird species recorded in Broward County (244!), according to Coral Springs birder Pickholtz. He calls it “the best place in Broward to see seabirds and shorebirds.” If you’re lucky, you’ll also find several rare species along the nature trail, including Key West quail-dove and Mangrove cuckoo. Note: A beach renourishment project is affecting access to the park through April 30.

Plantation Preserve Linear Trail, 7050 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation; plantation.org/government/departments/parks-recreation/plantation-preserve-golf-course-club/about-the-preserve (click on “Linear Trail”)

A bird mecca in the middle of a golf course? Yes, Plantation Preserve has a 1.1-mile-long trail that runs through Plantation Preserve Golf Course and Club. Birders recording on eBird.org, a crowd-sourced site run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have listed more than 230 species, including numerous wading birds, brown thrashers, buntings and the Spot-breasted Oriole, a yellow songbird. According to Fort Lauderdale biologist and birder Paddy Cunningham: “Visitors and residents alike can take comfort in the knowledge that a large and historically significant parcel of land has been preserved and protected for all to use, including local wildlife.”

Tall Cypress Natural Area, 3700 Turtle Run Blvd., Coral Springs; broward.org/Parks/Pages/park.aspx?park=38

Nestled within heavily developed Coral Springs is this 68-acre “hidden gem,” according to Broward birder Pickholtz. The best birding is during the spring and fall migrations, he says, but there are an assortment of winter and year-round residents, including a breeding pair of Great horned owls that roost in the tall pines. In addition to birds, the park is also a “botanical treasure,” Pickholtz says, with cypress trees, strangler fig trees, sword and leather ferns, soft-leaved wild coffee, beautyberry and other basin swamp plants. Pickholtz conducts a free monthly Tall Cypress bird walk at 8 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month, except in July and August. Go to broward.org/Parks/Pages/Event.aspx?event=2030.

Tree Tops Park and Pine Island Ridge Natural Area, 3900 SW 100th Ave., Davie; broward.org/Parks/Pages/park.aspx?park=40

Spring is a great time to see birds at these adjacent sites in west Broward. Songbirds love the abundant oak trees at Tree Tops, and birders have recorded 17 species of wood warblers, along with spectacular purple gallinules, which love the marshy wetlands. During a recent visit, Bert Ahl, of Melbourne, who has visited more than 300 sites along The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, says he saw a Short-tailed hawk and a Pileated Woodpecker, “the largest woodpecker in North America. They are pretty loud.”

Do you have a favorite site in Broward or Palm Beach counties to see birds and other wildlife? Send to AskLois @sunsentinel.com.