For migrating birds, Baltimore is a convenient rest stop

by Jacqueline Watts
editor@baltimoreguide.com

The flock of birdwatchers from Patterson Park traveled to the country—Fort Smallwood Park, near Pasadena—Saturday, and scored bingo the moment we laid down our stadium cushions and blankets and joined a hospitable and patient group from the Baltimore Bird Club.
About 100 yards away and on top of a dead tree that looked like it had been blasted by lightning, was an osprey nest. Perched right outside was a male osprey, and on the nest was a female. The male looked for all the world like he was sitting on the steps, and all he needed was a tiny transistor radio tuned to the Orioles.

Birdwatchers check out some “sharpies,” or sharp-shinned hawks.
Photo by Jacqueline Watts

Ospreys are birds of prey that fish for a living. They dive to the water to catch a fish, shake themselves dry, and carry the fish home. Sometimes an eagle will mug the osprey and carry the fish home for himself, but eagles are the only birds big enough to do that. Ospreys are big birds.
If you stroll around the waterfront in Baltimore you will see osprey nests. A pair of ospreys built a nest aboard the USS Coral Sea a few years ago and lived there several years. You could get an excellent view of their domestic comings and goings from Lighthouse Point and Tindeco Wharf. The nests are easy to spot—they are big and they are at the very top of whatever they’re built on. Ospreys like the penthouse.
We also saw about a dozen sharp-shinned hawks but none got close enough to say “hi hon.” People in the know call them “sharpies.” We haven’t seen any of them so far this year in Patterson Park, but we were able to get close to a red-shouldered hawk back in January and a goshawk in March.
There were about 30 of us, between the Baltimore Bird Club and Audubon’s Patterson Park group, gathered next to a short section of a fence separating the shoreline of a small lake from a little blacktopped path, which was wide enough to accommodate those John Deere carts that rangers drive, or a small pickup truck. On the other side of the path is a sandy beach, and on the other side of the river is Sparrows Point, still belching smoke.
Fort Smallwood Park was part of the outer defenses of Baltimore, and there is an old gun emplacement by the parking lot. It is Battery Hartshorne, and was named after Capt. Benjamin M. Hartshorne Jr., who was killed in 1902 in the Philippines. The battery was last manned by the military during the First World War, as far as I could tell in a Google search, but it was a handy Civil Defense lookout during the Second World War.
Fort Smallwood Park forms a point at the mouth of the Patapsco, and it’s an attractive rest stop for migrating birds that hug the shoreline as they head north. David Curson, director of bird conservation for Audubon Maryland-DC, pointed out hawks trying to catch a friendly thermal, or air current on which they can drift and save energy. Closer in there were three turkey vultures circling and watching something—perhaps they had spotted breakfast.
Right by the shore there was a great egret treating the minnows in the reeds like a seafood buffet. Egrets are tall shorebirds, about two or three feet tall, with an S-shaped neck and a long, straight yellow beak and yellow eyes. He got nice and close and gave us a good long look.
There were blue herons across the way, moving in and out of the reeds, and a little family of turtles sunning on an old tire.
The group stayed at Fort Smallwood for a couple of hours and then headed home. The day was getting warm, and the birds headed for shade. We all disappeared at about the same time.
Back at Patterson Park, the trees are full of warblers, the red-winged blackbirds are getting bolder, and the ducks, geese and turtles are paddling around the boat lake. It is a good time for a stroll.
The Audubon Society hosts its monthly bird walk in Patterson Park on the last Saturday of each month. Everyone meets at the fountain near the Lombard Street gate at 8 a.m. and the group wanders off from there, going wherever someone sights an interesting bird. Curson keeps up an entertaining and informative patter throughout the hour or so that the birdwatchers stroll. The bird walk is free. Beginners are most welcome.