Birds of Maryland

Maryland runs from the Appalachian ridges of Garrett County to the Atlantic beach at Ocean City, with the Chesapeake Bay splitting the middle. The Maryland Ornithological Society's records committee accepts 456 species on the official list as of 2022, a long list for a state this size, and the range of habitats explains it: northern birds on the mountains, southern birds in the swamps of the lower Eastern Shore, seabirds off Assateague, and a bay full of waterfowl in winter.

Most Marylanders live in the corridor between Baltimore and Washington, and that corridor is a very good backyard. Cardinal, Carolina Wren, crow, jay and dove lead the album, with robin, chickadee, woodpecker and titmouse right behind.

The Maryland album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Maryland, ranked by how frequently they turn up. The common and uncommon ones are shown; the rare and legendary cards stay face down until you catch them in the game.

Backyard birds you will hear first

The Northern Cardinal is the most reported bird in Maryland, whistling cheer, cheer, cheer from the dogwood in February and chipping from the hedge at dusk. The Carolina Wren is second, which surprises people who have never seen one: a small brown bird that shouts teakettle, teakettle, teakettle from the deck rail in every month, loud enough to hear through a closed window. The crow caws from the oaks, the Blue Jay screams, and the Mourning Dove coos from the gutter.

The Carolina Chickadee gives its quick four-note fee-bee, fee-bay from the feeder, the Tufted Titmouse whistles peter, peter, peter, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker rolls a churr from the trunk. The Canada Goose honks from every pond and ball field, and in May the Baltimore Oriole itself arrives, whistling from the tallest tree on the street and weaving a hanging nest at the tip of a branch.

The regions, by ear

The Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake

Flat farmland, loblolly pine and tidal marsh. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, 12 miles south of Cambridge, holds a third of Maryland's tidal wetlands in more than 20,000 acres, and it has the largest breeding population of Bald Eagles on the East Coast north of Florida. It is one of the main wintering grounds for Canada Geese on the Atlantic Flyway, and from September through January the marsh is loud with them at dawn and dusk. Ospreys come back to their platforms in March, Red-winged Blackbirds pour through in spring, and herons and egrets pile up in late summer.

The Atlantic coast

Assateague Island is a barrier beach on the Atlantic flyway with dune, marsh and pine forest behind it. Piping Plovers arrive in early spring to nest on the sand and leave by late August. Great Egrets, Clapper Rails and Red-winged Blackbirds work the summer marsh, Northern Harriers hunt low over it in winter, and Brown Pelicans fish the surf in summer. In the pines, Great Horned Owls and Saw-whet Owls call after dark, and flocks of Brant winter on the bay, which rarely freezes.

The Piedmont and the suburbs

Rolling hills, stream valleys and a lot of houses between Baltimore and Washington. Patuxent Research Refuge, 13,000 acres of forest, meadow and wetland set aside in 1936, is the only refuge in the country created for wildlife research, and its unbroken tree cover holds deep-forest singers that the subdivisions have lost: the Scarlet Tanager singing hoarsely from the canopy, the Wood Thrush fluting from the ravines at dusk, and Ovenbirds shouting from the leaf litter.

The western mountains

Garrett and Allegany counties are Appalachian ridges, hemlock ravines and high meadows. The chickadee here is the Black-capped, not the Carolina, and in June the ridges add Veeries, Hermit Thrushes and warblers that otherwise belong to Pennsylvania and New England.

Best months to listen

Late April through May is the peak, when the residents are on territory, the oriole and the tanager are back, and warblers move through the stream valleys and along the Shore. June is nesting season, still loud at dawn. Fall is long and quiet for songbirds, and the geese arrive on the Eastern Shore from September on. Winter is the wren and the cardinal in the yard, geese and swans on the bay, and eagles standing on the ice at Blackwater. In every month, the first two hours after sunrise carry most of the song.

Places worth the drive

• Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, south of Cambridge: nesting Bald Eagles, wintering geese from September to January, a 3.6-mile wildlife drive.
• Assateague Island National Seashore, near Ocean City: Piping Plovers in summer, Brant and harriers in winter, owls in the pines.
• Patuxent Research Refuge, between Baltimore and Washington: deep-forest songbirds, a visitor center on the South Tract and 25 miles of trails on the North Tract.
• Garrett County, the far west: mountain thrushes and warblers in June.

None of them is required. A yard with an oak, a deck rail and a feeder gives you the first 25 cards of the Warble album by May.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Maryland birds, so the first songs you hear outside already ring a bell.

Canada Goose song

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Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Wood Duck song

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Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Mallard song

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Recording by Fionn Ó Marcaigh, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

Album data: public bird observations aggregated through GBIF, ranked by report frequency in Maryland. Updated September 30, 2026.