Skip to content

Fall Bird Migration in Maryland

Tundra swans come down the Atlantic flyway into the Chesapeake every November, and Maryland's two bayside refuges put dates on the arrival: early November at Blackwater, mid to late November at Eastern Neck.

Agency viewing sites
4
Species documented
3
Mapped
4
Where to stand

Public viewing sites in Maryland

Every place below is one an agency itself describes for watching the fall passage, with the agency named and linked, the species it documents there, the months it names as the peak, and the facility that exists: a tour route, a platform, a tower, a visitor centre. Where the agency wrote a sentence worth reading, it is quoted exactly.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge FederalMarquee site

Tidal marsh, loblolly pine and freshwater impoundments on the Eastern Shore

Tundra swan

The refuge's seasonal calendar says tundra swans from Northwest Canada usually arrive in early November and several hundred remain through the winter, and that duck and goose numbers build gradually depending on temperatures further north. A 3.6 mile wildlife drive is described as popular with photographers and birders alike, with the Marsh Edge, Woods, Key Wallace and Tubman Road trails alongside it. The visitor center at 2145 Key Wallace Drive in Cambridge is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The wildlife drive is closed on a handful of dates in late October and early December.

“Tundra swans from Northwest Canada usually arrive in early November. Several hundred remain throughout the winter.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge seasonal calendar, quoted exactly.

Run by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge FederalMarquee site

An island at the mouth of the Chester River where it meets Chesapeake Bay

Tundra swan

The refuge's seasonal calendar says that by mid to late November, and sometimes earlier, tundra swans begin to arrive, that large staging groups sometimes come in at once and smaller groups sometimes more gradually, and that waterfowl numbers build as birds move south from northern breeding grounds. The island has seven trails and boardwalks, among them the Tundra Swan Boardwalk, and a visitor contact station in a historic lodge at 1730 Eastern Neck Road in Rock Hall, open Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the grounds open dawn to dusk. The refuge closes to the public on several dates in October.

“By mid- to late-November, and sometimes earlier, tundra swans begin to arrive at the refuge.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge seasonal calendar, quoted exactly.

Run by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Washington Monument State Park hawk watch Public platform

Stone tower on the crest of South Mountain, on the Appalachian ridge line

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

The HawkCount profile describes a regular but fairly informal watch atop the monument, which straddles South Mountain, with one or more counters present many days at least through the morning hours. The count season runs September 1 to November 30. Broad-winged hawks average about 2,300 a season here, with a record 10,610 in 2011, and sharp-shinned hawks about 770.

“a regular but fairly informal watch atop the monument which straddles South Mountain”
HawkCount.org, Washington Monument State Park site profile, quoted exactly.

Run by Washington Monument State Park, Maryland Park Service; the count is volunteer run and reports to HawkCount

Turkey Point Hawk Watch, Elk Neck State Park Public platform

Grassy bluff at the tip of a peninsula at the head of Chesapeake Bay

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

The HawkCount profile places the watch in Elk Neck State Park a couple of hundred yards north of the Turkey Point Lighthouse, says it is coordinated by the Cecil Bird Club and staffed entirely by volunteers, and describes the field around the lighthouse as occupying the very tip of Turkey Point. The season runs September 1 to November 30. Sharp-shinned hawks average about 1,060 a season, with a record 2,014 in 2005.

“It is coordinated by the Cecil Bird Club and is staffed entirely by volunteers.”
HawkCount.org, Turkey Point site profile, quoted exactly.

Run by Elk Neck State Park, Maryland Park Service; the count is coordinated by the Cecil Bird Club and staffed by volunteers

The map

Maryland sites, refuges and the reporting record

Style
Records
Layers

Viewing sites in Maryland, with the national wildlife refuges in the state drawn underneath. The coloured grid is where people have uploaded a verified sandhill crane record to iNaturalist in September, October, November and December, brighter where more have been logged. It is a map of reports rather than of birds: it thickens around refuges, car parks and towns because that is where observers stand, and it shows past reports rather than birds present today. Pins are public viewing sites an agency itself describes; grey dots are US Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and hatcheries, drawn because the refuge system is where most of the staging happens.

Advertisement
When

When the passage peaks in Maryland

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge seasonal calendar puts the Maryland peak at Tundra swans usually arrive at Blackwater in early November and begin arriving at Eastern Neck by mid to late November; the state's two raptor counts run September 1 to November 30. That describes a pattern across past autumns. The week itself swings with the weather: a cold front to the north moves cranes and geese south in a single night, and a warm spell holds them for weeks. Dawn and the last hour before dusk are when cranes and geese move between the fields and the water, and that movement is the spectacle the platforms are built for.

Maryland's fall is a Chesapeake story. Tundra swans that nest in the Canadian arctic come down the Atlantic flyway to winter on the bay, and the two federal refuges on its shores are specific about when: Blackwater, in the Eastern Shore marshes, says early November; Eastern Neck, an island at the mouth of the Chester River, says mid to late November and sometimes earlier, arriving in large staging groups or a few at a time. Both describe waterfowl numbers building gradually as temperatures fall to the north. The raptor half of the state's autumn happens inland, on two long-running volunteer counts: one atop the Washington Monument on South Mountain, where the Appalachian ridge carries the flights, and one at the tip of Turkey Point in Elk Neck State Park at the head of the bay. Both run September 1 to November 30.

Below, one curve per species the agencies document in Maryland: every research grade observation members of the public have uploaded to iNaturalist for the state, by calendar month across every year the platform holds, with September to December shaded. Counts of uploads, so they measure observers as well as birds, and the shape is worth reading where the absolute numbers are not.

Tundra swan

1,182 research grade tundra swans observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Maryland across every year the platform holds, and 30 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is February. An autumn month carries about 0.87 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in April, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Broad-winged hawk

590 research grade broad-winged hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Maryland across every year the platform holds, and 37 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is April. An autumn month carries about 1.2 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in April, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sharp-shinned hawk

618 research grade sharp-shinned hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Maryland across every year the platform holds, and 59 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is October. An autumn month carries about 2.87 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in April, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sandhill cranes flying in a loose line across a pale open sky, necks held straight out in front and long legs trailing behind them
Sandhill cranes crossing a refuge on the morning flight. The movement is watched from the designated pullout or platform: the birds settle on shallow water for the night, and the roost itself is the one place a viewing site is never placed. “Sandhill cranes flying over Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (24542820818)” by USFWS Midwest Region from United States, CC BY 2.0
Latest reports

What people have reported in Maryland lately

The most recent research grade autumn observation of each species that anyone has uploaded to iNaturalist for Maryland, as a date and the platform’s own coarse locality. Evidence that people do find tundra swan and broad-winged hawk here. Each is one bird on one past day: the flocks move with the weather, so where they are this week is what the agency page and its counts answer.

Checking the most recent autumn uploads for Maryland on iNaturalist...

Where Maryland counts are published

Elsewhere

Other states with agency designated migration viewing

Advertisement

Questions about Maryland

Inventory compiled 2026-09-19 from the agency pages linked above. Agency text is quoted exactly with its source named and linked; the observation curves and latest reports are counts and dates from public uploads to iNaturalist.

Winter eagle watching in MarylandThe same refuges and rivers three months later, when the ice concentrates the eagles.Maryland waterfowl seasonThe hunting calendar on the same marshes, worth knowing before standing on a dike in October.Maryland daylight hoursThe dawn and dusk flights are the spectacle, and the clock change moves them.