Springtime warmth means more birds overhead, on the move to their summer homes. Join ecologist John Canoles for a birding hike at Swan Harbor Farm, a popular bird spot with diverse habitats, including wetlands, forest, waterfront, and a dredge spoil area.
Swan Harbor Farm has a total species list of over 277 types of birds, with over 190 species reported in a typical April. Migrant and resident birds that can be found there include common sightings of bald eagles, osprey, and red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks. Common mergansers, canvasback, and lesser scaup can be seen plying the waters along the shoreline. Solitary sandpipers, lesser yellowlegs, and spotted sandpipers can be found in the fields and wetlands. A beaver pond hosts prothonotary warblers, common yellow-throat, black-throated green warblers, and scarlet tanagers. Baltimore and orchard orioles can be seen in the forests and hedgerows. Swan Harbor is listed as the #1 eBird hotspot in Harford County.
During the field trip, we will be participating in the City Nature Challenge, logging all of our observed species using the iNaturalist platform. The Challenge is a collaborative effort involving cities all over the world to identify as many wildlife species as possible in their urban setting over a 4-day period. Last year, Baltimore made more than 10,000 observations of more than 1,600 species, and we are hoping to break that record this year.
