Maryland Duck Migration Forecast

Where MD birds come from

Maryland's birds come down the Susquehanna and along the Atlantic coast, and cold across Pennsylvania and New York is what pushes them onto the Bay.

DuckCast watches the Susquehanna valley and upstate New York for the freeze and snow that start birds moving, then reads NEXRAD after dark to see whether they actually flew. The upstream picture is why a score can rise here before anything changes in your own sky.

The 9 regions we score in Maryland

Every region gets its own daily score. Reports are generalized to the region, so nobody burns your spot.

• Western Maryland

  Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties: Deep Creek Lake, the Potomac pools and the river bottoms. Small water that locks early, and wood duck country first.

• Piedmont and Upper Potomac

  Frederick, Carroll, Howard and Montgomery: Potomac bottomland, greentree reservoirs and farm ponds. Inland mallards and wood ducks, and no sea ducks.

• Upper Bay and Susquehanna Flats

  Cecil and Harford counties at the head of the Bay: the Susquehanna Flats and the first big water below the river. Fresh to barely brackish, and the first of the Bay to ice.

• Baltimore and the Western Shore

  Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Prince George's: the tidal rivers and creeks off the Bay's western side, and the Patuxent's goose roost at Merkle.

• Upper Eastern Shore

  Kent and Queen Anne's: the Chester River, Eastern Neck and the corn country behind them. Canada goose ground first, with tidal marsh ducks along the water.

• Mid-Shore and Blackwater

  Talbot, Caroline and Dorchester: the Choptank and the Blackwater marsh, the heart of the Eastern Shore. Blackwater is one of the chief Atlantic Flyway wintering grounds for Canada geese.

• Lower Eastern Shore

  Wicomico and Somerset: Tangier Sound, Deal Island and the Nanticoke, tidal marsh broken by open water. Black duck marsh, with sea ducks out on Tangier Sound.

• Atlantic Coast

  Worcester County: the coastal bays behind Assateague and Ocean City. Salt water that holds open longer than the creeks inland, with scoters, brant and snow geese.

• Southern Maryland

  Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's: the tidal Potomac and the Patuxent, and the swampy creeks like Chicamuxen and Nanjemoy. Wood duck water.

Common questions about Maryland

When does the duck migration peak in Maryland?

DuckCast's season model puts the wood duck peak in Maryland around mid November. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year: the actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Where do Maryland's ducks come from?

Maryland's birds come down the Susquehanna and along the Atlantic coast, and cold across Pennsylvania and New York is what pushes them onto the Bay. DuckCast reads conditions across the Susquehanna valley and upstate New York and watches for the freeze that pushes birds south, so a MD hunter sees the push building before it arrives.

Which parts of Maryland does DuckCast cover?

All 9 regions: Western Maryland, Piedmont and Upper Potomac, Upper Bay and Susquehanna Flats, Baltimore and the Western Shore, Upper Eastern Shore, Mid-Shore and Blackwater, Lower Eastern Shore, Atlantic Coast, Southern Maryland. Each gets its own daily score. Locations are always region-level; DuckCast never collects or shows exact hunting spots.

Does DuckCast use weather radar in Maryland?

Yes. DuckCast decodes raw NEXRAD Level II volumes from the 2 National Weather Service radar sites covering Maryland, and reads how much bird mass lifted off after sunset and which way it tracked. Separately, 8 upstream weather stations across the Susquehanna valley and upstate New York feed the freeze line; those are weather reports, not radar. Radar sees every bird in the air, not just ducks, so read it as evidence that a migration happened rather than a duck count.

When is the best time to duck hunt in Maryland?

For wood duck, the modelled peak in Maryland falls around mid November, and the strongest hunting is usually the weeks on either side of it. Inside that window the best mornings follow a cold front with a hard freeze across the Susquehanna valley and upstate New York and a north wind behind it, which is exactly what the daily MD score measures. Season dates are set by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the peak is a modelled typical year rather than a promise about this one.

Where can I find a Maryland waterfowl report?

Maryland DNR publishes the official Maryland regulations and, during the season, survey counts and reports, so start there for anything legal. DuckCast adds a daily migration score for each of the 9 MD regions, built from live weather, the freeze across the Susquehanna valley and upstate New York, crop progress and hunter reports, and each morning it reads NEXRAD radar to say whether birds actually moved over the region after dark. Hunter reports filed in the app are generalized to the region, never to a spot.