Field Trips 2022 – MOS Convention

Thank you to our friends at the Southern Maryland Audubon Society for helping us plan field trips and recruit field trip leaders!

Special thank you to Tiffany Farrell, Lynne Wheeler, George Jett and Tyler Bell for their guidance and assistance.

Online field trip sign-ups were open from April 1st to May 16th, 2022.

MOS has field trips on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. Scroll down for field trip descriptions from 2022 Convention.

Please review these field trip suggestions:

Carpooling is expected and expedient. Please help out drivers with a contribution towards the cost of gas.
Some venues have a nominal fee per vehicle. Please be prepared to contribute to this cost.
Be sure to have appropriate field gear: sturdy, waterproof boots and jacket, sunscreen, insect repellent and a good supply of water.
Please do not wander off the road except on public lands. Most private land is posted in Southern Maryland, but also do not enter the woods where trees are marked with blue paint blazes along public roads.

If you are interested in being a field trip leader, please contact Jim Rapp at jmrpp2@gmail.com.

You can view this Google Map of 2022 field trip sites:

2022 Field Trip Descriptions

Many thanks to the field trip site descriptions provided by the Birder’s Guide to Maryland & DC, a project of the Maryland Ornithological Society!

ALL-DAY TRIPS (SATURDAY ONLY)

Patuxent River Park/Jug Bay Natural Area
Chesapeake Beach and North Beach
Charles County Highlights, including Nanjemoy Creek and Mallow’s Bay

Patuxent River Park/Jug Bay Natural Area, operated by the Maryland-National Capitol Parks and Planning Commission, refers to an extensive land area on the Prince George’s County side of the Patuxent River that has been set aside with special protections and limited development. Patuxent River Park/Jug Bay Natural Area has such an outstanding ecosystem, with splendid visitor amenities, that it is almost as though it were designed to be a birder’s playground. The “Jug Bay” itself is an expanded section of the river where it is about a half-mile wide. The convoluted shorelines of Jug Bay are bordered by freshwater marsh and inlets, with extensive wild rice beds that form ideal habitat for waterfowl and other marsh birds. The Jug Bay marshes are notable for hosting migrating Sora who fatten up on the wild rice before undertaking fall migration. Marsh Wrens are another keynote species of Jug Bay, and the marsh is enlivened by their bubbling songs in spring and summer. Read more here. This tour will be a two-part program, with the first leg being a pontoon boat tour through both the rice marsh and forest edge habitats in search of Osprey, wetland species (rails, bitterns, Marsh Wren, shorebirds, etc.), and migratory songbirds. The second leg is a driving tour to Mattaponi Creek wetlands and Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary where we will be focusing mostly on migratory songbirds.

Cost: $12/person
Maximum # participants: 22
Difficulty: The first part of this field trip involves a pontoon boat tour in Jug Bay. After the boat tour, participants will eat lunch, and drive and hike through the Mattaponi Creek wetlands and Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary. Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Chesapeake Beach is a century-old beach resort in northern Calvert County. The resort was once served by trains that brought visitors from Washington, DC. North Beach adjoins it to the north. Chesapeake Beach offers frontage on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as the fine marsh of Fishing Creek. For birders, the prime attractions are the excellent public access to the Chesapeake Bay shoreline, with its offer of waterfowl, gulls, terns, and shorebirds, and the boardwalk into the Fishing Creek marsh, where you can have close-up views of herons, egrets, rails, and marsh-dwelling sparrows and wrens. Read more here. North Beach is a century-old resort town of modest homes, restaurants, civic pride, and a mile-long frontage on the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. There are several spots in North Beach that make this a go-to birding spot for Chesapeake Bay birding, including Wetlands Overlook Park and the Walton Beach Nature Preserve. Read more here.

Cost: Free.
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Charles County Highlights Tour: Explore some of the gems of Charles County by foot and by car. We will start the day at Friendship Farm Park on Nanjemoy Creek in southern Charles County. Several miles of trails will take us to look for forest, wetland, and field birds, and we will also have a look from the boat launch for waterbirds and raptors. Read more here. The next stop will be Mallows Bay to walk on some shorter forest trails and to enjoy views of the Potomac River while we eat lunch. This National Marine Sanctuary features a diverse collection of historic shipwrecks including the “Ghost Fleet”, the remains of over 100 scuttled World War I-era wooden steamships. The overgrown wrecks now form a series of distinctive islands, intertidal habitat, and underwater structures rich in wildlife. Read more here. On the way back east, we will stop at Port Tobacco Court House and Bumpy Oak Road wetlands for a good mix of breeding warblers, vireos, marsh birds, and possible red-headed woodpeckers. Continuing east, we will check out Allens Fresh, the #1 eBird hotspot in Charles County, for possible shorebirds and field birds. Read more here.

Cost: Free.
Maximum # participants: 12
Difficulty: We will be on our feet for much of the day, with mostly flat walking on narrow, occasionally wet, trails with a few steep inclines.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

HALF-DAY BIRDING FIELD TRIPS

The American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT) is a complex of parcels, accumulated gradually since 1986, originally centered around an iconic American Chestnut tree that survived the great chestnut blight for a century. Now amounting to 3,000 acres on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, it is Calvert County’s largest block of undeveloped land. At Parkers Creek Preserve, ACLT owns 958 acres, manages 1,910 acres owned by the State of Maryland, and holds conservation easements on 374 privately-owned acres. The Preserve is bisected by Parkers Creek, a tidal stream that empties into the Chesapeake Bay, and that is the county’s wildest unspoiled feature. The habitats here are truly impressive and it is hard to believe that most of this land was once farmed for tobacco. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 12 for Friday afternoon tour (South Side) and 12 for Sunday morning tour (North Side)
Difficulty: We will walk on both flat and hilly terrain, with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails. Some of the slopes are moderate to steep on the Sunday (North Side) field trip.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting locations: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary was purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 1957 as its first sanctuary in Maryland. Battle Creek is now operated by Calvert County Parks and Recreation Department. The Sanctuary is approximately 118 acres in size and was established to protect one of the northernmost Bald Cypress swamps in the US. A quarter-mile elevated boardwalk trail leads directly through the swamp and an additional quarter-mile arboretum trail leads through a fallow field of approximately 20 acres. The gardens surrounding the Nature Center and parking lot are productive for spring migrants. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20 (23 on Friday)
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

The 1,100-acre Calvert Cliffs State Park is named for the impressive sandstone cliffs along this stretch of the Chesapeake Bay. The cliffs themselves, and the beach at their base, are off-limits due to their propensity to crumble, posing danger, and are actually not well seen from the park. Calvert Cliffs State Park is mostly forested, with some wetland areas and a small pond for fishing. The park has about 13 miles of marked hiking trails. A quarter-mile-long sandy beach is accessible via a 1.8-mile trail. The park is rich in biodiversity and is home to numerous species of plants and animals. Read more here.

Cost: Maryland residents $5/vehicle; out-of-state residents $7/vehicle
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

The Calvert Marine Museum Walking Tour and Boat Cruise includes 90 minutes of birding in Solomons followed by a 90 minute boat cruise along the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay. Participants will walk from the Solomons Inn to the Thomas Johnson Bridge Fishing Piers for birding on the Patuxent River. From there, the group will walk to the Calvert Marine Museum for saltmarsh birding along the museum’s Marsh Walk on Back Creek. Participants will then board the Wm. B. Tennison, a 60 feet, 6 inch nine-log sailing bugeye converted to a powered buy-boat. The group will sail the Solomons inner harbor, see Solomons Island and the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, pass underneath the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge and turn back at Pt. Patience and the Naval Recreation Center.

Cost: $10/person
Maximum # participants: 36
Difficulty: 90 minutes of easy to moderate, flat walking followed by a 90-minute boat cruise.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.
PLEASE NOTE: this trip does not include admission to the Calvert Marine Museum.

Flag Ponds Nature Park is a county park of over 500 acres with frontage of nearly a mile on the Chesapeake Bay. Most of the terrain is low-lying. Most remarkable are two sizable ponds (Richardson’s Pond and Duncan’s Pond) fed by over-wash from the Bay, and several smaller ponds. A marsh, traversed in part by a boardwalk, lies along Richardson’s Pond. The South Ridge and North Ridge Trails go through terrain with a more upland character. Read more here.

Cost: Free, thanks to permit obtained by MOS
Maximum # participants: 20 (23 on Friday)
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

The 48-acre Gatewood Preserve lies between Battle Creek Cypress Swamp and the Biscoe Gray Heritage Farm. The Gatewood Preserve property was a private residence and includes a house and barn. The majority of the property is open field and pasture which will be restored to grassland and meadow habitats. It has a breathtaking view of Battle Creek and direct water access. The vision for the Gatewood Preserve is to focus on passive recreation uses such as hiking, nature study, fishing, and paddling. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.
PLEASE NOTE: this trip is only offered Saturday morning in conjunction with Battle Creek Cypress Swamp

Gilbert Run Park is operated by the Charles County Department of Parks. It offers many outdoor activities, centered around Wheatley Lake, aka Gilbert Run. The lake was constructed to provide flood and watershed protection, the main source of water for the lake is Wheatley Run; part of the Gilbert Swamp Run drainage, which flows into the Wicomico River. Great for birding, featuring a two-mile wooded trail, with a recently renovated 8 ft wide elevated boardwalk through the swamp. This multi-habitat of forest, water, and swamp is a warbler and thrush species HotSpot. Read more here.

Cost: $5/vehicle
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Historic Sotterley is a National Historic Landmark with a history dating back to 1703. The site is located in St. Mary’s County on the banks of the Patuxent River. Birders will enjoy the varied habitats at Sotterley. The Manor House and Colonial Revival Gardens sit on a knoll overlooking hayfields and wooded ravines rolling down to the Patuxent River, with spectacular views of the open waters of the river. Read more about Historic Sotterley here. After birding at Sotterley, participants will caravan to nearby Greenwell State Park, a 596-acre State Park located on the lower Patuxent River. Habitats at the park include deciduous woodlands, fields, wetlands, a sandy beach, and the open waters of the Patuxent River. There are ten miles of well-marked trails open to the public year-round. Read more about Greenwell State Park here.

Cost: for Greenwell State Park – Maryland residents $3/vehicle; out-of-state residents $5/vehicle
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.
PLEASE NOTE: this trip does not include admission to Historic Sotterley.

Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in Calvert County is a unique state park that houses Maryland’s state museum of archaeology. The park was established for the purpose of using the onsite archaeological discoveries to preserve and interpret the rich history of the area and its inhabitants. Although it has a historical focus, the park is an excellent location for birding, being situated on a peninsula, bordered on the south by St. Leonard’s Creek and to the west by the Patuxent River, offering 2.5 miles of waterfront. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20 (23 on Friday)
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Maxwell Hall Park is a 670-acre park that features about 14 miles of trails that wind through diverse habitats of woods, hedgerows, fields, and marshes, with rolling hills that offer outstanding views of the Patuxent River and access to the river’s sandy beaches. The Patuxent River is the longest river entirely within the State of Maryland, and at Maxwell Hall, the river is a wide tidal estuary, attracting waterfowl and gull in winter and terns and waders in summer. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: No.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Myrtle Point Waterfront Park occupies 193 acres on a northward-facing peninsula just a short distance upstream from where the wide estuary of the Patuxent River joins the Chesapeake Bay. The peninsula is bounded by the Patuxent River on the north and east, Mill Creek or Cuckold Creek on the west, and Sam Abell Cove on the southwest. The park, which is owned by St. Mary’s County, is known for its spectacular water views, sandy beaches, and for its lush woodlands and marshes. Read more here.

Cost: Free for Friday afternoon tour ($25/out-of-county vehicle on weekends and holidays)
Maximum # participants: 23
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Purchased in 2009, Newtowne Neck State Park is one of the newer parks in the Southern Maryland region. Located at the end of Route 243 the Park is a 794-acre narrow peninsula near Leonardtown. Surrounded by Breton Bay, St. Clements Bay and the Potomac River, the park has seven miles of waterfront. The variety of habits include tidal shorelines, forest, hedgerows, meadows and agricultural fields. The forested section has been classified as Forest Interior Dwelling Species (FIDS) habitat. The park is easy to hike as the terrain is flat. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Point Lookout State Park is one of the premiere birding locations in Maryland – in fact it is the #2 spot in Maryland in terms of the number of bird species reported on eBird. Point Lookout is also the #1 eBird hotspot in St. Mary’s County. Located at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, it is a migrant trap and has a long list of rarities to its credit. Habitats include sandy beaches, rock jetties and seawalls, Loblolly Pine woods, deciduous woods, grassy open areas, and scrub-shrub. Read more here.

Cost: Weekends and holidays: Maryland residents $5/person; out-of-state residents $7/person; Weekdays: Maryland residents $3/vehicle; out-of-state residents $5/vehicle
Maximum # participants: 20 (23 on Friday)
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

St. Mary’s River State Park is situated at the northern end of the St. Mary’s River watershed. St. Mary’s Lake, Site 1 area of St. Mary’s River State Park, is good for forest birds, and freshwater shoreline birds, via foot trails around and near the lake. This area makes for pleasant birding, and you often get Red-headed Woodpecker, Tree Swallow, Hooded and Kentucky Warblers and other forest interior dwelling species such as thrushes during migration. This trip is being led by the newly formed Southern Maryland Audubon Youth Group, who know their birds! Meet in the parking lot. Read more here.

Cost: Maryland residents $3/vehicle; out-of-state residents $5/vehicle
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting Location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Warrior’s Rest, Calvert Cliffs at Parkers Creek is a scenic beach located immediately adjacent to beautiful vistas of Calvert Cliffs. Participants will not be obligated to walk below the naturally-eroding cliffs. Calvert Cliffs are world-famous for the preservation of fossils from the Miocene epoch. The sediments that comprise the cliffs and the fossils they entomb range in age from about 18-8 million years old. Fossil shells are the most common type of fossil that is found. Fossil shark teeth can also be found, but one should not expect to find any/many. North of this section of Calvert Cliffs and immediately south of Parkers Creek is a wide open beach for birding. Participants will have to sign a Release from Liability form provided by the trip leader.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 15
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking on beach, but also on potentially slippery clayed surfaces. Shoes will get wet if you opt to walk the narrow beach adjacent to the cliffs…hip waders would be best.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting Location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.
PLEASE NOTE: Participants will have to sign a Release from Liability form provided by the trip leader.

EVENING BIRDING FIELD TRIPS

Owl Prowl at Flag Ponds Nature Park. Flag Ponds is a county park of over 500 acres with frontage of nearly a mile on the Chesapeake Bay. Most of the terrain is low-lying. Most remarkable are two sizable ponds (Richardson’s Pond and Duncan’s Pond) fed by over-wash from the Bay, and several smaller ponds. A marsh, traversed in part by a boardwalk, lies along Richardson’s Pond. The South Ridge and North Ridge Trails go through terrain with a more upland character. Read more here.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: Yes.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.

Owl Prowl: St. Mary’s County – Meet at the Wildewood Shopping Center (Rt. 4 south to Rt. 235, turn right then left at the next light at Wildewood Blvd. Right into the shopping center then immediately left into the small parking area). Will try for Chuck-will’s-widow at several locations if necessary. Possible stakeout Barred Owl nest. Will try for Great Horned Owls and Whip-poor-wills, too, though neither are a given. Car caravan to several locations about 15 miles distance from the shopping center.

Cost: Free
Maximum # participants: 20
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, flat walking with some narrow, occasionally wet, trails.
Facilities: No.
Meeting location: Please see the Field Trip Schedule for up-to-date meeting locations.