Spurwink River
“Spurwink River Crossing has been the number one birding hotspot YTD across all of Cumberland County with a total of 70 different bird species spotted so far this year and 175 individual checklists submitted from birders across the state and beyond.”
Through the year
Columns that mention it, by the month they were published.
Year by year
Columns that mention it each year.
In his words
Ten of the 25 passages, oldest first.
Strangely one of the first sightings I have had in some time, on Labor Day there was a male belted kingfisher perched on a snag along the Spurwink River.
In the late afternoon of January 12 a Northern Harrier, aka “Marsh Hawk” was spotted hunting along the fringes of the Spurwink River.
On April 20 I caught my first two Great Egrets of this year foraging along the Spurwink River and on the same day saw a handful of Yellow-rumped warblers in the Oak trees along Belfield road.
On June 21 my wife pointed out an adult American Bald Eagle giving chase to an Osprey over and along the Spurwink River.
On this same day I saw a pair of adult Bald Eagles travelling north and a single Common Raven flying high above the marshes along the Spurwink River.
Later that afternoon along one of the Spurwink River’s tidal dog-legs I spotted a slim, darkish colored heron that looked to be the same size as a Snowy Egret.
On this same day I came across a male Belted Kingfisher perched in an old Birch tree along the Spurwink River Crossing.
In the same moment a Turkey Vulture teetered high above the Spurwink River while a Red-tailed Hawk took its perch atop nearby farm equipment.
And under the dim evening light of March 21 I lost track after counting a dizzying thirty-six American Woodcocks – four along Shore Road and the remainder along the Willow Brook, Spurwink River and across Gull Crest (uplands included).
On April 15 around dusk while walking along fringes of the Spurwink River I flushed a Woodcock and then noticed a Great-horned Owl sitting ten feet up in a tree directly above where the Woodcock had been.
Show all 25 passages
On January 13 I observed two lingering male Belted Kingfishers, one at the Spurwink River Crossing perched on a high snag and a second one along the portion of Sawyer Road that traverses the Spurwink Marsh.
On the afternoon of March 2 I spotted a flock of black and white ducks along the Spurwink River.
A few additional notes from the field include on June 2 along the Spurwink River I spotted a Short-billed Dowitcher probing the mudflats and I heard the wheezy hissing p-tsssssshhhuk of a Nelson’s Sparrow somewhere out in the marsh.
And on January 27 as snow swept across the saltmarsh a Northern Harrier drifted across the land while two male Common Goldeneyes led six females as they dove and foraged upstream from the Spurwink River Crossing.
…on February 6 three Brown Creepers were foraging in an old White Oak Tree along Shore Road and on February 9 along the Spurwink River two male Common Goldeneye ducks performed brief courtship displays including the “head throw kick” while a Belted Kingfisher unleashed its wild rattling call directly overhead.
And on March 9 along the section of Sawyer Road that crosses the Spurwink River, I spotted one female Hooded Merganser and a pair of Common Mergansers feeding in a shallow salt-water pool as the rattling calling from a nearby Pileated Woodpecker carried across the marsh.
Lastly on the overcast afternoon of April 28 along the Sawyer Road section of the Spurwink River I noted twenty-one Glossy Ibis foraging, seven Greater Yellowlegs wading and two Pectoral Sandpipers probing.
A few additional notes from the yard and field include on June 6 along the Spurwink River I spotted two Willets and a Short-billed Dowitcher probing the mudflats and I heard the wheezy hissing p-tsssssshhhuk of several Nelson’s Sparrows somewhere out in the marsh.
Additionally, on the morning of August 10 along the Sawyer Road stretch of the Spurwink River I noted five Great Egrets, seven Snowy Egrets and one Little Blue Heron.
On February 8, tipped off by an eBird report earlier that day I made my way to the Spurwink River Marsh section of Sawyer Road where, after some effort, I was able to locate six Horned Larks hunkered down along a section of the tidal dogleg where marsh grasses were still protruding above the snow.
Spurwink River Crossing has been the number one birding hotspot YTD across all of Cumberland County with a total of 70 different bird species spotted so far this year and 175 individual checklists submitted from birders across the state and beyond.
Also, on March 29 along the Sawyer Road section of the Spurwink River I noted a flock of twenty or more Green-winged Teals, two Greater Yellowlegs and a Northern Harrier.
Travelling on from there to Spurwink River Crossing I discovered two Willets and a Belted Kingfisher perched directly below an adult Bald Eagle in an old Snag along the river.
Back in March, I’d noted a report of a Pipit near the Spurwink River crossing, but I never managed to find that little songbird, often overlooked due to its drab coloring.
On January 25 at the Spurwink River Crossing I was admiring the chocolate-brown head of a female Barrow’s Golden eye duck when a large flock of forty or more Horned Larks sprung out from the tundra-like landscape and took to the air in a swift, twisting and turning flight…