Queen Anne's County

Natural History, Oct, 2003

LOVELY AND HISTORIC QUEEN Anne's County, a gateway to Chesapeake Country, is also a fine site for birding. Start your visit in picturesque Kent Island, established in 1631. Across from the island, in Grasonville, you'll find the Horsehead Wetlands Center.

Operated by the Wildfowl Trust, this 500-acre sanctuary has trails around six waterfowl ponds, each representing a different wetland habitat. You're likely to come across red fox, river otter, geese, and swans. Native waterfowl include northern shovelers, redheads, wood ducks, and tundra swans. The ponds also attract black ducks, canvasbacks, American wigeons, lesser and greater scaups, green- and blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, and herons. Migratory birds traveling north and south on the Atlantic Flyway also stop here.

Don't skip the visitor center, where a powerful scope overlooks a waterfowl pond. The center also boasts an aquarium with critters from the Chesapeake Bay. Other must-see sites include Terrapin Beach Nature Park, with a one-mile nature trail, a pond, and two observation blinds. Look for birds of prey, migratory birds, and breeding waterfowl.