Evergreen Cemetery Walk — Phoebes Birding

Sunday April, 30, 2023 • Evergreen Cemetery • Report by Paddy Cunningham • Images Courtesy of Ana Lima

Phoebes gather with field guide Paddy Cunningham (fourth from left) at Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Lauderdale.

An approaching thunderstorm did not deter 20 hardy birders on April 30, 2023, from exploring Evergreen Cemetery, one of Broward’s best hotspots. It is Ft. Lauderdale’s oldest cemetery with many large live oak and fig trees creating a wide-open canopy good for birds. The cemetery is close to the coast and can be a migrant trap for birds needing a quick stopover to fuel up as they continue their journey. We observed 27 species.

Greeting us was an active Cooper’s Hawk hunting over his domain, keeping the warblers nervous. To identify Cooper’s Hawk, look for a longer neck, scalloped tail, and flat head. Chimney Swifts made their spring display, alerting us with their fast high-pitched twittering chips, I pointed out the differences in Swallows and Swifts by their silhouette and flight behavior. Swallows have more triangle shaped wings and spend some time gliding as they feed. Swifts have long, narrow, boomerang-shaped wings with rapid flight. Some call them a cigar with wings.

The large Banyan tree in the north corner is always a good place to look for migrants. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo made a secretive appearance, hiding in plain sight, doing what they do best by not moving. A close by Live Oak attracted a small flock of warblers including Black-and-white, Prairie and American Redstart bracing against the growing wind. American Redstarts have a wonderful behavior of fanning their tail and tumbling down to branches instead of a straighter flight like most warblers. We saw the very attractive males in black and orange and females in gray and yellow.

Heading over to the interesting Atlantic Coastal Ridge cliff overseeing a waterway, we had a unique perspective looking down the cliff for migrating thrushes and warblers. The bird of the day was a Swainson’s Warbler, a very elusive and rare bird to find for even the most experienced of birders. Although plain in appearance, it has a long bill for a warbler and a white eye stripe which helped me to identify this bird which I have seen less than five times in my life. I couldn’t help but do a high stepping victory dance with it being a life bird for most of the group. Kirsten Hines stated after the walk, “I'm working on a photographic field guide to the birds of Florida and the deadline is pressing. I'm down to just a handful of species I need to photograph, and Swainson's Warbler is one of them. It took me the rest of the morning, but I finally got some great shots. Your walk proved exceedingly fruitful for me!”

Water birds found along the waterway were Green Heron, a female Anhinga and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Muscovy Ducks and Common Gallinule swam in the water. A Common Yellowthroat male in his prominent black mask and an Ovenbird with a spotty breast stayed close among the branches. Angie and Debbie were happy to have re-found an American Redstart and were able to identify it for themselves. The storm arrived as predicted, and the wonderful exploration of Evergreen Cemetery ended just as raindrops began to fall.

This was my first time leading a trip for the Phoebes and it won’t be my last. Great birds, learning new things, adding life birds and meeting new friends are great pursuits for a happy Phoebes birder’s life. I got a pin. I’m a Phoebe now too.

Editor’s Note: Phoebes Birding thanks Paddy Cunningham for volunteering to lead the Evergreen Cemetery Walk. To learn more about Paddy and her birding tour business, Bird Adventure, click here.