Page 14 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Jan/Feb 2013
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The Port of Baltimore
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January/February 2013
GREENPORT
didn’t see it, but they were able to tape
its song and verify that it was a Black
Rail. “They never sighted it, but it sang
all day,” Carney said.
Last year, for the first time, two
sandhill cranes appeared, and a huge
sandpiper from the arctic, called a
Hudsonian Godwit, was spotted. A
rookery with herons and egrets is quite
popular with birders, especially since
the birds seem relatively unafraid of
them and allow them to get close, which
in turn has attracted two professional
photographers. Swan Creek is also
home to a pair of breeding bald eagles.
But it’s the birds passing through that
make for unusual sightings. “They’ll
show up for a day or two and then some-
thing else comes along,” Carney said.
The Maryland Port Administration
recently opened to the public a section
of Masonville Cove, another dredged
material containment facility. Adjacent
to the facility are 54 acres containing
non-tidal wetlands, a bird sanctuary
and a park area with a paved trail, a
kayak launch, a fishing pier and an edu-
cation center. The once-polluted former
industrial land has been mitigated
and capped to provide a clean habitat,
and groups of school children helped
plant it with native grasses. It, too, is
expected to become popular with local
birders.
American Golden Plover.
TIM CARNEY – SWAN CREEK
