Birds

The American coot is a dark, duck-like bird with a white bill. It visits the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, creeks and wetlands from autumn through spring.

The American oystercatcher is a large, stocky shorebird with a distinctive long, blade-like, reddish-orange bill. It lives on beaches, mud flats and exposed oyster bars along the lower Chesapeake Bay.

The brown pelican is a large, dark-colored water bird that lives along the shores of the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay during summer.

The common loon is a duck-like sea bird with a thick, pointed bill and a distinctive black-and-white checkered pattern during breeding season. It visits the Chesapeake Bay in autumn and late winter to feed on open waters.

The double-crested cormorant is a large, black water bird with a long, hooked bill. It lives year-round on the Chesapeake Bay’s shallow and open waters.

The greater yellowlegs is a slender shorebird with a long, upturned bill and distinctive yellow or orange legs.

Laughing gulls are medium-sized gulls with white underparts and a gray back. They visit the Chesapeake Bay in the summer to breed.

In the spring and summer, the least tern can be identified by its black crown and nape, which contrast with its white forehead.

The royal tern is a large seabird with a thick orange bill that can be found along Chesapeake coastal beaches during its breeding season.

The saltmarsh sparrow is a small bird native to the tidal marshes of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

The sanderling is a small, pale sandpiper with black legs and a straight black bill and visits the beaches and tidal flats of the Chesapeake Bay from autumn through spring.

The spotted sandpiper is a medium-sized shorebird that can be found throughout the Chesapeake region during the summer.

The willet is a large, grayish-brown sandpiper with a distinctive black and white wing pattern. It lives in the Chesapeake Bay’s salt marshes and on tidal flats from spring through autumn.