Rather drab and monotonous expanses of marsh 
are dominated by nearly pure stands of needle- 
rush over large areas. Saltmeadow cordgrass 
dominates good-sized meadows in better- 
drained areas above normal high-tide level. 
Saltmarsh cordgrass occurs along tidal 
streams in narrow well-drained zones that 
are frequently inundated during normal high 
tides. Saltmarsh bulrush and saltgrass grow 
in patches in a few poorly drained depressed 
areas that contain considerable standing water 
at low tide. They grow in more extensive 
stands locally, particularly in the Dames 
Quarter and Fairmount areas. Saltgrass also 
grows with needlerush, saltmeadow cordgrass, 
and saltmarsh cordgrass. Narrow strips of 
hightide-bush grow along the upper portions of 
many of the tidal streams where natural levees 
have been built above normal high tide level. 
Widgeongrass is an abundant submerged plant 
throughout most of the ponds and creeks, 
where the circulating tidewater is normally 
quite clear. Switchgrass meadows are wide- 
spread along the upland margins of the 
marshes. In other places, the marsh border 
is composed chiefly of groundselbush and wax- 
myrtle, representing a later stage of plant 
succession. 
During recent years, the Maryland Game 
and Inland Fish Commission has made numer- 
ous impoundments in the salt estuarine bay 
marshes near Dames Quarter, through the 
construction of dikes, dams, and gut plugs. 
This has stabilized the water level and reduced 
the salinity so that new species of aquatic 
and marsh plants have become established. 
Species important to waterfowl include musk- 
grass, sago pondweed, narrowleaf cattail, and 
Olney three-square. 
Fishes and Turtles 
Several species of small fish arenumerous. 
These include the common killifish (Fundulus 
heteroclitus) the striped killifish (Fundulus majalis), 
and the broad killifish(Cyprinodon variegatus).The 
diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) also 
is common. 
Invertebrates 
Certain mollusks are quite common, par- 
ticularly the ribbed mussel (Volsella demissa), 
the periwinkle snail (Littorina trrorata), the salt- 
marsh gnail (Melampus bidentatus), and a tiny 
gastropod (Littoridinops sp.), Of crustaceans, the 
most numerous include one of the fiddler crabs 
(Uca minaz), the mud crab (Panopeus herbstiz), the 
blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), and various am- 
phipods and isopods. Characteristic aquatic 
insects are: the larvae and nymphs of dragon- 
flies (Libelluloidea), water boatmen (Corixi- 
dae), predaceous diving beetles (Dytiscidae), 
water scavenger beetles (Hydrophilidae), and 
14 
the larvae 
({Culicidae), 
and pupae of mosquitoes 
Waterfowl 
The characteristic species of waterfowl 
during the spring and fall migration periods 
are: 
Primary Species 
Black Duck 
Secondary Species 
Canada Goose Green-winged Teal 
Mallard Blue-winged Teal 
Gadwall Shoveler 
Pintail American Widgeon 
Black Ducks are the only common and 
widely distributed waterfowl. They are present 
regularly as breeding populations, spring and 
fall transients, and winter residents. They 
are not as numerous in this habitat, however, 
as they are in the brackish estuarine bay 
marshes during the migration periods. 
Other species of waterfowl are scarce and 
somewhat irregular. Various dabbling ducks 
and Canada Geese occur locally in managed 
areas, where ponds have been made by gut 
plugs and dams along tidal streams. During 
the late spring and summer, a few scattered 
pairs of Blue-winged Teal breed in some 
of the larger marsh-meadows that are domi- 
nated by saltmeadow cordgrass. A small local 
population of breeding Gadwalls is present 
near Dames Quarter in an area that contains 
extensive stands of saltmarsh bulrush as well 
as the more typical plant associations. 
Sample boat counts were made during the 
period of 1954-56, between the dates of May 
29 and June 11. Approximately 16.6 square 
miles were covered in these censuses, Al- 
together 75 waterfowl were recorded, about 5 
waterfowl per square mile, They included 71 
breeding Black Ducks and 4 nonbreeding Red- 
breasted Mergansers. 
The gullet and gizzard food contents of 16 
waterfowl collected in salt estuarine bay 
marshes during the fall migration were ex- 
amined. Small fish (chiefly Poecilidae) were 
the predominant foods taken by 13 Black Ducks, 
Two Mallards had been feeding chiefly on bait 
corn, and on the seeds of saltgrass. A Green- 
winged Teal had been feeding heavily on seeds 
of needlerush, 
Three downy-young Black Ducks collected 
in June contained only widgeongrass seeds 
and saltmarsh snails (Melampus bidentatus). 
BRACKISH ESTUARINE BAY MARSHES 
About 47,000 acres of brackish estuarine bay 
marsh (fig. 3) occur in the Upper Chesapeake 
region. 
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