Birding Maryland’s Coast

Worcester County — Maryland’s Coast! — remains wild. For some, the county might conjure images of Ocean City, housing, and shopping in its extreme northeastern flank. But head west or south and more than 200,000 untouched acres of beach, bald cypress, and marshland, and miles of farm fields, rivers, and creeks await.

And within this bucolic landscape is some of the best bird watching in the most beautiful places on the East Coast. With more than 100,000 permanently protected acres in the county, options abound.  

In late summer through early spring, Worcester County welcomes its shorebirds, falcons, eagles, and waterfowl to its bays, beaches, and ponds. Assateague Island, the Ocean City Inlet, and Berlin Falls Park are some winter favorites amidst other hidden parks and ponds with easy public access (See Top 10 birding spots in Worcester County).

Here is the best place in Maryland to find Harlequin and Long-tailed ducks, Common and King Eider, Dovekies, Razorbills, purple sandpipers, scoters, loons, grebes, and Brant. The full complement if winter ducks is also on display, including Canvasbacks, Pintails, Redheads, and Ruddy ducks. Seals have become a hit as well for wildlife watchers.

In spring and early summer Worcester County welcomes warblers, tanagers, and other spring migrants. Few things rival, slow and easy morning paddles down the cypress-laden Pocomoke River or Nassawango Creek. Here, Prothonotary Warblers buzz about low in the canopy in spring and early summer, joining their Northern Parula, American Redstart, and Scarlet Tanager brethren. The state of Maryland and the Nature Conservancy own more than 50,000 acres of forestland in these two watersheds.

At Truitt’s Landing and the EA Vaughn Wildlife Management Area, birders can look and listen for King, Clapper, and Virginia rails, Saltmarsh Sparrows and a vast array of shorebirds. Across Chincoteague Bay from the 35 miles of unspoiled Assateague shoreline, both lie within the 10,000 acres of protected land in the Coastal Bays Rural Legacy Area spanning from the Virginia line to Public Landing.

With so much unspoiled shoreline, marsh, and forestland, it’s no wonder Audubon, Maryland-DC has designated a whopping four Important Bird Areas in Worcester County, including the Pocomoke-Nassawango, Maryland Coastal Bays, Assateague Island, and Great Cypress Swamp IBAs. The science-based designations are designed to help promote and protect the best remaining places for birds in the state.

Such a bounty is what prompted organizers to create the Delmarva Birding Weekends some 25 years ago. Guided by fun-loving local birders with decades-long experience on the shore, the year-long walking tours, paddles, and boat trips accommodate visitors from the curious nature lover to fowl fanatics. More than 400 bird species have been recorded in the region and some Weekend tallies have topped 200 species.

Nationwide, 47 million birders spend nearly $107 billion annually on travel and equipment-related expenditures associated with birding. This generates $13 billion in local, state, and federal tax revenue.

Nowhere is this more important than in Worcester County. Please join us for a day, a week, or a year of spectacular birding in this unique and magnificent landscape.

Photos courtesy of Frode Jacobsen