Wildlife of Pleasure House Point

Hooded Merganser
(Lophodytes cucullatus)
*Audubon Watchlist Red List Species

The Hooded Merganser is a species that prefers secluded areas around wooded ponds, lakes, and streams. The major threat to these stunning birds is habitat loss, as they rely on cavities of large, mature trees for their nesting sites. One of North America's least numerous and most secretive ducks, they dive for their diet of insects, crustaceans, small fish, and vegetation.

Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow
(Ammodramus nelson)
*Audubon Red List Species, Watchlist 2007

The Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow is an unobtrusive little bird that can be found in three distinct, geographically separated habitats. One is the mature, undisturbed coastal marshes of the eastern seaboard. They can be found in the Chesapeake Bay region year-round. Their diet depends on insects and small crustaceans found in dense grasses, mudflats, tidal pools, and wrack lines. The Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow is threatened by an acute loss of breeding, migrating, and wintering habitat with the continued destruction of coastal marshes. Conservation of extensive salt marsh is critical to the species' future.

Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
(Ammodramus caudacutus)
*Audubon Red List Species, Watchlist 2007

These little birds need large coastal marshlands—especially those around estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay—dominated by grasses for breeding and winter habitat. With a wider diet than Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, it forages for small crabs, small mussels, immature insects, and the seeds of marsh plants such as cordgrass and saltbush. This bird has a limited range, which makes the loss of habitat even more of a concern. The Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow is also affected by toxic environments and by invasive species, such as phragmites, which is unsuitable for nesting.

Snow Bunting
(Plectrophenax nivalis)
*Audubon Top 20 Common Birds in Decline

The southernmost range of the Snow Bunting reaches just below the Chesapeake Bay. These small birds winter along the shores of the Bay, lakes, and rivers where grass and grain fields are plentiful and the land is relatively open. Threatened by global warming in its northern home of the Alaskan and Canadian tundra, its southern habitat is threatened by the loss of open sites, like that at Pleasure House Point.