Page 13 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Jan/Feb 2013
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January/February 2013
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The Port of Baltimore
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TIM CARNEY – SWAN CREEK
T
hanks to wetlands developed at
Swan Creek — next to the Cox
Creek dredged material contain-
ment facility — some 220 species of
birds have been spotted in the vicinity.
The 11-acre mitigated wetlands area,
which includes both freshwater and
saltwater sections, is part of 126 acres
of preserved land at Swan Creek. The
land adjoins some 115 acres of upland
industrial area.
That this type of environment attracts
birds — and bird watchers — isn’t
surprising. What is surprising is the
number of migrating shorebirds drawn
to the 133 acres of the dredged material
containment facility at Cox Creek.
“It was definitely an unintended
consequence of building a dredge cell,”
Tim Carney, a Maryland Environmental
Service (MES) Environmental Specialist I,
said with a laugh. Although birders are
not allowed in dredged material contain-
ment areas, they use scopes to watch
their feathered friends from the wetlands.
Birders are allowed around the wetlands
from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., provided they
sign in and receive a safety briefing.
Local birding groups, such as the Anne
Arundel Bird Club, occasionally arrange
to do field trips on weekends.
“Everybody just loves it,” Carney said.
Part of the wetlands is tidally
influenced, and a stream feeding the
freshwater section emerges from a
wooded area, creating an ideal habitat.
The rarest species to date is the tiny
Black Rail, whose distinctive song was
heard for about two weeks in 2011. The
bird is extremely secretive, and birders
Little Blue Heron.
Flocking to
SWAN CREEK
ASSOCIATION
of
MARYLAND PILOTS
Phone: (410) 342-6013 Fax: (410) 276-1364
3720 Dillon Street
|
Baltimore, Maryland 21224
CAPTAIN KEVIN GUGLIOTTA, AMP
