What you start to notice when you slow down and look a little closer.
You don’t have to consider yourself a “birder” to go birdwatching on Maryland’s Coast.
It happens almost by accident.
Maybe you start taking walks a little earlier in the morning. Or you sit outside with your morning coffee instead of rushing off to work. Somewhere along the way, you start noticing there is a lot going on around you that you never noticed before.
Before the Coast Wakes Up
There’s something different about Maryland’s Coast at twilight.
Before most people are awake, some of the birds already seem to be in position. It reminds me of hunters before sunrise. Find your spot, get quiet, and wait.
Great Blue Herons stand almost perfectly still in shallow water, waiting for breakfast to come to them. Great Egrets, those beautiful tall white birds you’ll often see around our marshes and waterways, also use a similar hunting strategy.
Walk the same route several mornings in a row, and you may even start noticing birds in the same areas. You start thinking, Oh, there he is again.
Whether it’s actually the same bird, who knows, but Great Blue Herons can defend good feeding areas from other herons, which may explain some of the commotion you hear, too.
Because for such a graceful-looking bird, a Great Blue Heron can make a surprisingly ungraceful sound.
One minute it’s standing silently in the marsh looking majestic. Next, something has invaded its space, and it sounds like a prehistoric creature has been unleashed on the campground.
The Little Birds That Race the Waves
You’ve probably seen these guys if you’ve walked the beaches of Ocean City or Assateague.
The wave goes out, and they race toward it. They frantically poke their beaks into the wet sand. Another wave comes in, and everybody runs back. Then they do it all over again. It honestly looks like a bunch of tiny birds who love the beach but are terrified of getting their feet wet.
They are called Sanderlings. Turns out this is how they hunt for food. All day long, they run up and down the shore grabbing little snacks before the next wave arrives. Once you know what they’re doing, it becomes a lot of fun to watch.
See One Pelican? Keep Watching.
Brown Pelicans often travel together, sometimes cruising in a line just above the waves. Five, six, or seven may pass by, rising and falling together as they follow the coastline. So if you see one fly by, give it a second; there are probably more coming.
Then suddenly one dives.
If you catch the splash out of the corner of your eye, you may wonder if a giant fish just jumped out of the water. Watching them dive into the water is pretty incredible.
Wait...Where Did That Duck Go?
This one can really mess with you the first few times.
Something splashes. A bird disappears beneath the surface. You watch the spot where it went under. Nothing. Then suddenly it pops up 50 feet away from where you were looking.
There are a number of diving birds that visit our coastal bays and canals depending on the season. All it takes is one to pique your curiosity, and honestly, that’s how a lot of us get into birding. What was THAT? Then you look a little closer.
Winter Has Its Own Colors
Winter birdwatching on Maryland’s Coast doesn’t get enough credit.
Buffleheads are one of my favorites. You see them in the canals during the winter, and at first the males look mostly black and white. Then the sunlight catches their heads just right, and you see these beautiful metallic purple and green colors.
They’re really pretty birds.
Duck carvers love making Buffleheads, and now I can see why.
I had a similar moment with Mallards this year. I don’t know how I went this many years without really noticing the blue on their wings.
That colorful patch is called the speculum, and depending on the light, it can look blue or blue-purple with white around it.
Once I noticed it, I started thinking about how often you see those same colors in waterfowl patterns, outdoor clothing, and gear. Maybe that’s obvious to people who have always paid close attention to waterfowl, but I had never made the connection before.
The Bird Every Photographer Hopes to Find
Then there are the birds you don’t see every day.
For birdwatchers and wildlife photographers, a Snowy Owl is one of those sightings.
Snowy Owls are Arctic birds, so seeing one this far south is special. Every once in a while, one shows up along Assateague or elsewhere on the coast during the winter.
And they can be surprisingly hard to spot.
You would think a big white owl sitting on a beach would stand out, but against the sand, dunes and pale winter landscape, they can blend right in.
The photos people capture of them at Assateague always make me stop. They’re beautiful birds, and I can see why photographers get so excited when one appears.
Of course, this is one you want to enjoy from a distance. A long camera lens or binoculars lets you get the view without putting extra stress on the bird.
The One That Looks a Little Like a Skinny Toucan
Then there’s the American Oystercatcher.
This is not a bird that blends in particularly well.
With a black head, white underside and that long, bright orange-red bill, it looks a little like a really skinny toucan to me. Once you see one, you’ll probably remember it.
I’ve also come across a few of their eggs, which is a good reminder to watch where you’re walking and give nesting birds plenty of room. Beach-nesting birds and their eggs can be vulnerable to disturbance, so sometimes the best thing you can do is notice them and keep moving.
Apparently, the Gulls Have a Morning Meeting
Anyone who spends time around Ocean City, MD has seen this. Fifty birds. Maybe a hundred. Just sitting there. There can be rooftops everywhere, yet for some reason all the gulls have decided they need to be on that one. Meeting in progress.
You’ll see huge groups on beaches, sandbars and open water, too. In the colder months, I’ve looked across the bay and seen what looked like a strange white island or iceberg in the distance, only to realize it was a massive gathering of birds.
There are real reasons gulls gather like this, including feeding, resting and roosting.
But “mandatory gull meeting” is more fun.
And Why Is That Gull Standing on One Leg?
This was something I actually wondered about.
You see a gull standing there on one leg, perfectly comfortable, and start wondering what happened to the other leg. Usually it’s nothing. The other leg is probably fine. It’s just the seagull resting its leg into its feathers to help keep warm.
The Ducks Are Taking the Kids to School
Spring and summer bring babies, and sometimes the family outings are just as entertaining as anything else happening around the marsh.
A group of ducks or geese will appear with what seems like the entire extended family.
An adult leads. The little ones follow. Some slightly bigger youngsters may be mixed in. More adults bring up the rear. Then the whole parade crosses the grass, reaches the water and everybody gets in, one after another. It looks remarkably organized. Or at least more organized than getting most human families out of the house in the morning.
Nature’s Halloween Soundtrack
Then there’s the Eastern Screech-Owl.
For some reason, I seem to hear them the most around Halloween. Maybe I just notice them more that time of year, but either way, the timing is perfect. Because if you happen to be camping next to one, there is nothing cute about that sound in the middle of the night. It sounds like someone is taking your firstborn child. Seriously.
And then you find out an Eastern Screech-Owl is only about the size of a robin. How does something that small make a sound like THAT?
Welcome to camping on Maryland’s Coast around Halloween.
Sometimes It Feels Like They’re Watching You, Too
I’ve noticed something else from spending more time outside. When you stop trying to get closer to wildlife, sometimes it gets closer to you.
Hummingbirds are probably my favorite example. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are the hummingbirds we typically see here, and once they find a feeder, they know exactly where it is.
Every once in a while, one will hover right in front of me and stare. I know it probably isn’t actually trying to tell me something. But when the feeder needs changing and a hummingbird is hovering a few feet from my face, I’m pretty sure I know what it wants.
Maryland’s Coast Was Made for This
If you actually want to go looking for birds, Worcester County gives you a lot of different places to do it without traveling very far.
We have barrier island beaches, coastal bays, tidal wetlands, forests, fields and even cypress swamps.
The 2026 Guide to Birding in Maryland highlights Nassawango Creek, the Pocomoke River at Porter’s and Whiton crossings, Heron Park, Ocean City Inlet, West Ocean City Pond, Sunset Park, South Point and Assateague Island National Seashore and State Park among the places to explore on Maryland’s Coast.
Assateague is especially impressive. The guide ranks Assateague Island National Seashore first among Eastern Shore birding locations, with 356 species recorded according to the eBird data used in the guide.
There really isn’t an off-season for bird watching along Maryland’s Coast. Winter brings ducks, geese, and gulls. Spring brings migrating songbirds and shorebirds. On the barrier islands you’ll find terns, skimmers, Brown Pelicans and Piping Plovers. Then fall migration brings new species for you to enjoy. You can walk the same places all year and keep seeing/hearing something different.
Want Someone to Show You Where to Look?
If you’re ready to go a little deeper, you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.
Delmarva Birding Weekends hosts guided birding experiences throughout the year, including walks, paddles and boat trips that take you into some of the best birding areas on the Delmarva Peninsula. Some of those trips explore the same Worcester County landscapes mentioned above, from our marshes and waterways to Assateague and the Ocean City Inlet.
And you definitely don’t have to show up knowing what you’re doing. Their trips range from experiences for curious nature lovers to outings for serious birders. Sometimes having someone along who knows what to look and listen for is all it takes to start seeing a place completely differently.
Check out their upcoming experiences and sign up for one that sounds like your kind of adventure.
More People Are Finding Their Way Outside
One of the things I like most about birding is that there really isn’t one type of person who gets to enjoy it.
Black AF in STEM has helped bring more attention to that through Black Birders Week, which started in 2020 and has grown to include events and activities around the country. Their work celebrates Black birders, scientists and nature enthusiasts while helping more people feel represented and welcome in outdoor spaces.
We also recently met Ranger Bri, whose passion for getting people outside and connected to the environment is contagious.
It’s a good reminder that you don’t have to grow up doing this. You don’t have to know the names of everything you see. Sometimes you just need a reason to get outside and start paying attention.
You Don’t Have to Be a Birder
Maybe that’s my biggest takeaway from all of this. You don’t have to know every species or even own a pair of binoculars to start noticing the birds around you. Go outside early one morning. Look toward the shallow water instead of walking past it. Watch what happens when the waves roll out. Listen when something makes a completely ridiculous noise from the marsh. Look closely at a duck you’ve probably seen a hundred times before.
Just stay still for 90 seconds. Eventually, little things start standing out. Like pelicans coming down the coastline, or tiny birds running along the waters edge. You’ll notice colors on a Mallard that somehow escaped you your entire life or start to look around for the birds you saw yesterday. That’s when you know you’re hooked.
Ready to look a little closer? The 2026 Guide to Birding in Maryland includes seasonal birding information, species to watch for and destinations throughout the state, including a section dedicated to Maryland’s Coast in Worcester County.
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