The next time you’re boating on the Chesapeake Bay, take out your binoculars and scan not only the water, but also the skies, marshes and shorelines. You’ll likely spy more than a few remarkable and colorful birds.
Smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic Flyway — an avian migration route that stretches from the Eastern Arctic Islands, along the Atlantic Coast of North America and across the Caribbean Sea past Cuba and Jamaica — the Bay supports a large and varied population of bird species. With its rich food resources and vast swaths of habitat, the Bay plays host to a wide variety of year-round resident species and seasonal visitors, making it a delightful place for year-round birding.
This video shows just a few birds that you might see:
Gary Reich has a lot to say about birding on the Bay. You can read his thoughts on how birds make Chesapeake Bay boating better by checking out his Bay Watch column in the October 2017 issue of Soundings magazine.
