In 2022, AHB joined teams of other citizen scientists to help the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) “ground truth” the water quality data collected by NASA satellites on the Chesapeake Bay. Volunteers use a phone-based app to measure the turbidity and reflectance of bay waters over 100 feet from the shore. Water samples taken from those sites are tested for chlorophyll, turbidity, and dissolved organic matter. It would be great to have more volunteers, so please contact us or SERC if you are interested.

Herring Bay provides world-class bird habitat throughout the year. Raptors such as broad-winged hawks, northern harriers, and peregrine falcons migrate over Herring Bay each spring, often chasing migrating warblers. Various gulls and terns, green and blue herons, and osprey summer here. Autumn finds spotted sandpipers, snowy egrets, and blue-winged teal passing through. The winter Bay attracts myriad birds to the water, including loons, swans, ducks, gannets, and geese. Observing both these migratory birds and the resident eagles, blackbirds, killdeer, and kingfishers heightens awareness and appreciation for Herring Bay and provides crucial data for measuring environmental health. AHB is committed to maintaining high quality bird habitat and to collecting data and participating in Jug Bay’s Christmas Bird Count.

This year’s Christmas Bird Count will be on December 18, 2022.

Herring Bay’s many natural beaches serve as important breeding habitat for horseshoe crabs, which is one reason EPA designated Herring Bay as one of the first “No Discharge” Zones in the State of Maryland. By monitoring spawning activity, sharing what we learn, and encouraging protective measures, AHB strives to keep the shores of Herring Bay a productive nursery-ground for these live-saving, Jurassic-era mariners.

Herring Bay’s wetlands, forests, and fields are alive with amphibians. Frogs and toads are particularly sensitive to natural conditions and can provide an “early warning” of significant changes in our environment. AHB volunteers track amphibian calls at key wetlands from early spring through June, and has supported data collection for Maryland’s Reptile and Amphibian Atlas so that scientists will know about trends in our area. Plus, it’s fun!

Locally, the open-water wetland in Fairhaven known as the “cove” or the “lake” is prized for its aesthetic value as well as its abundance of waterfowl, birds, plants and other wildlife. Regionally, the cove may be one of the few estuarine wetlands in Anne Arundel County that has not been significantly impaired by development. AHB is working to preserve and protect this ecosystem.

In 2009, AHB commissioned a field assessment of the wetland by W.S. Sipple Wetland & Environmental Training and Consulting.

In 2018, Anne Arundel County published its “Herring Bay, Middle Patuxent, and Lower Patuxent Watershed Assessment.” AHB applauded the county for its comprehensive review of the area’s ecological conditions, and agreed with the report’s emphasis on the long-term benefits of preserving and restoring the watershed’s natural features that filter pollutants and sustain ecologically important habitats.