General Info: Birding the Harriet Tubman Byway

If you are interested in joining a tour, please email us at dmvbirds@gmail.com with the number of participants in your party. When we have our tour dates on the schedule, we will email you with an update.

Check out the article featuring our Birding the Harriet Tubman Byway tours in Audubon magazine! June 15, 2023.

Delmarva Birding Weekends is proud to partner with Harriet Tubman Tours to host “Birding the Harriet Tubman Byway” tours in Dorchester County and Caroline County on Maryland’s Easter Shore.

*Harriet Tubman mural by artist Michael Rosato. Bald Eagle and Lesser Yellowlegs photos courtesy of Frode Jacobsen.*

*Your guides (left to right): Jim Rapp of Delmarva Birding Weekends and Alex and Lisa Green of Harriet Tubman Tours.*

We offer two seasonal tours:

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge/Dorchester County: A defiant young woman in the Chesapeake marshes (this tour usually runs November – April)
Choptank River Cruise/Caroline County: Journeys to Freedom (this tour usually runs June – October)

*Osprey photo courtesy of Frode Jacobsen. Harriet Tubman c. 1870-1880. River Run Cruises.*

Discover the birds and wildlife that Harriet Tubman would have known as a young girl growing up in Dorchester County, MD, and as a Conductor on the Underground Railroad in Caroline County, MD

Join Harriet Tubman Tours and Delmarva Birding Weekends as we go birding along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway in Dorchester County, MD. During our guided, self-driven tour, we’ll learn about the life and times of the famed freedom seeker and human rights activist known as “The Moses of Her People,” Harriet Tubman. The route courses through the farms and Chesapeake Bay marshes of Dorchester County, home to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and some of the best birding and Bald Eagle watching on America’s Eastern Seaboard.

Harriet Tubman was born around 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was brought into the world as Araminta “Minty” Ross, the middle of nine children born to Harriet “Rit” Green and Ben Ross, who were both enslaved. Her childhood was spent toiling on the plantation of Edward Brodess, who often hired his enslaved people out to neighboring farmers.

In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Philadelphia, but she returned at least 13 times to rescue around 70 people, including her parents, family members, and friends. In the face of incredible danger, she guided them safely to freedom as a conductor of the Underground Railroad — a secret network of people, places and routes that provided shelter and assistance to escaping slaves. By 1860, Harriet Tubman had earned the nickname “Moses” for liberating so many enslaved people at great risk to her own life.

During her formative years on the Brodess Farm and as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman would have been intimately familiar with the birds and wildlife of Dorchester County. She used the call of a Barred Owl to alert freedom seekers that it was safe to come out of hiding and continue northward.

The same birds that Harriet Tubman would have known more than 170 years ago still inhabit the fields, forests and marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Bald Eagles can be observed year-round, and active nests are visible during the winter and spring. During autumn and winter months, you can discover ducks, geese, swans and raptors. Spring and summer bring Osprey, egrets, shorebirds and warblers.

Watch the video from WBOC TV16’s Outdoors Delmarva:

On November 18, 2021, National Geographic published their 25 amazing journeys for 2022, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland made the list for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway and Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge! Click this link to read the article, which features quotes from our friend Alex Green of Harriet Tubman Tours (you will need to enter your email address to read the article).