At a Glance

Hours: Sunrise to sunset for the Turkey Point area; main park hours are 9 am-sunset.

Cost:

  • No fee for the Turkey Point Area.
  • Entry fee for day-use areas at the North East River Beach and Rogue’s Harbor Boat Launch (even when not launching a boat) –
    • Maryland residents: weekends and holidays: $3/person, weekdays: $3/vehicle.
    • Out-of-state residents: weekends and holidays: $5/person, weekdays: $5/vehicle.
  • State park passes may be used.
  • There are separate fees for boat launching, for camping, and for picnic shelter reservations.

Tips: The parking area at Turkey Point has been relocated and enlarged but still may fill to capacity on weekends and additional cars will be turned away. There is no overflow parking available. Arrive early on weekends to ensure getting a parking spot, or visit on weekdays. ◾ Bring a scope for waterfowl in winter or for hawk-watching. ◾ Hiking boots or sturdy shoes are suggested. ◾ There is a picnic bench at the hawk watch area but if you intend to stay all day, you might consider bringing a folding chair. ◾ Public hunting occurs in parts of the park. Be aware of hunting seasons and plan your visit accordingly. ◾ A portable restroom is at the new parking area for Turkey Point. There are also permanent restrooms at the North East River Day-Use Area; the Rogue’s Harbor Boat Launch Area; and the campground.

Best Seasons: Late summer to late spring.

Breeding Bird Atlas Blocks: North East SW, Earleville NW, Earleville CW, Spesutie NE, Spesutie CE

Local MOS Chapter: Cecil Bird Club

Official Website
Trail Map
eBird Hotspot
Google Photo Gallery

Elk Neck State Park – Turkey Point

4395 Turkey Point Road, North East, MD 21901
(410) 287-5333

Turkey Point at Elk Neck State Park is located on a peninsula between the North East and Elk Rivers, at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The Turkey Point peninsula is covered with hardwood forest and open meadows located on high bluffs above the rivers and the Bay. Turkey Point is home to a historic lighthouse, no longer in use, that has a commanding view of the top of the Bay.

The Elk Neck peninsula acts as a migrant trap, and is known as a hawk watch spot during fall migration. In addition, Turkey Point is a great place for migrating passerines in both spring and fall and for waterfowl in winter. The rich habitat and strategic location combine to make Turkey Point the #1 eBird hotspot in Cecil County, with 262+ species reported.

From 1994 through 2016, volunteers from the Cecil Bird Club staffed the Turkey Point Hawk Watch, and their data can be viewed in the database of the Hawk Migration Association of North America. Although the Turkey Point hawk watch no longer has official counters focused on hawks, it is still a good place to watch migrating raptors.

As of fall 2021, the Maryland Biodiversity Project has launched a daily fall bird count that collects data on all birds, not just hawks, at Turkey Point. The project is sponsored in part by the Maryland Ornithological Society. Data can be viewed on the Maryland Biodiversity Project’s website, almost in real time during the fall count season, which runs from August 1 through November 15.

The Turkey Point area of Elk Neck State Park (about 278 acres) is separated from the rest of the 2,369-acre state park by a private residential community, known as Chesapeake Isle. Note that it is not permitted to park on the private roads within Chesapeake Isle to walk into the park.

The parking lot for Turkey Point, at the southern terminus of MD Route 272, was recently relocated and enlarged, with paved spaces for 52 cars, and is now situated in the first of two meadows along the route to the lighthouse. Turkey Point is popular and on weekends the parking lot fills quickly. Rangers will turn excess cars away, so be sure to arrive early. It is short half-mile walk from the parking lot, past the old hawk watch site, to the Point and its historic lighthouse, with good birding all the way.

You should start birding in the meadow around the parking area. The wood edges on both sides of the lane are prime places to look for migrating warblers, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, and more. Be sure to check all four corners of the meadow; the trees in the corners are festooned with vines where songbirds like to hunt for insects and berries. The ground underneath has a lot of downed wood, which attracts migrant thrushes and Winter Wrens. Also check the new native plants installed at the south end of the parking area for stormwater mitigation; these plantings may attract small songbirds as well as pollinators when blooming.

To reach the old hawk watch site, continue south past a gate on the gravel lane that leads out of the parking area, toward and then through a small belt of trees, emerging in the second meadow. The hawk watch site is on the left side of the trail, near a picnic bench and a kiosk installed by the Cecil Bird Club that displays paintings of the common hawks that fly over in the fall.

Continue past the hawk watch site to reach the lighthouse area and Turkey Point itself. The gravel lane will take you through a small woodlot to emerge at the  historic lighthouse (no longer operational). As you emerge into the clearing by the lighthouse, check the vines and shrubs on both sides of the lane, as well as the tall red cedar trees, for migrant songbirds. Also be sure to check the vegetation at the top of the cliffs past the lighthouse, and on the cliffs, for more migrants. Palm Warblers especially like the cliffs in fall.

From the lighthouse, the trail continues to the west (your right as you face the water), skirting the cliffs to go downhill to the site of the old boat landing used by the long-gone lighthouse keepers. At this point, the trail turns inland through the woods, going up a slope to re-emerge in the meadow near the hawk watch site. This makes a nice loop walk.

Camping, a boat launch, fishing, and a day-use picnic and swimming area are available nearby in the main part of the state park, along with more trails. For a description of other parts of the park and the trails available, consult the trail map at link in the orange box on this webpage and see descriptions of the trails on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website. Also see the Birdlife section below for other eBird hotspots in the park.

Birdlife:

Over 262 species have been reported to eBird from the Turkey Point section of Elk Neck State Park. There is a set of eight eBird hotspots covering the park:

Late summer and early fall brings good flights of migrating hawks, as well as swallows, swifts, flycatchers, vireos, thrushes, warblers, tanagers and orioles, loons, and waterfowl. On a good day in the fall, the skies and the woods are just full of migrating birds.

Red-headed Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches and Pine Siskins may also be seen in fall and winter.

Spring migration brings flycatchers, vireos, thrushes, warblers, tanagers and orioles moving north.

Breeding birds include Bald Eagle, Osprey, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Prairie Warbler, and Worm-eating Warbler.

The Point is a roosting and hunting spot for owls, with Barred, Great-horned, and Eastern Screech-Owl present all year. In the 1990s, a banding study conducted by MD DNR trapped and banded over 350 Northern Saw-Whet Owls in one season.

Wheelchair Access:

The trails at Turkey Point are not wheelchair accessible, but there can be good birding from and near the car on the way to the parking area, and in the meadow near the paved parking lot.

The day-use area on the Northeast River (north of Turkey Point) offers a spectacular view of the water from the parking area and is a good spot for birders who are mobility-impaired, as is the boat launch area at Rogue’s Harbor. The woods edges on the way to, and near, the Rogues Harbor Boat Launch offer good birding. Both of those areas have accessible restrooms. There is a fee to use the North East River Day Use area.

There is a handicapped accessible portable restroom at the Turkey Point parking area, as well as permanent restrooms with handicapped access at the Rogue’s Harbor Boat Launch, the North East Beach Day-Use Area (closed seasonally), and the campgrounds.

Pet Policy:

Pet are permitted on leash at Turkey Point. Pick up after your pet and take the bagged waste with you.

Special Designations:

Elk Neck State Park is one of the focal points of the Elk Neck Important Bird Area, as designated by the National Audubon Society. The IBA encompasses most of the Elk Neck peninsula.

Turkey Point and Elk Neck State Park as a whole lie within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, and development and disturbance of the habitat is strictly regulated.

Elk Neck State Park is also part of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network of the National Park Service.

Special Features:

  • Camping (including cabins, tent camping, and RV hook-ups), camp store, swimming, boat launch, and picnic areas are all available in the main part of Elk Neck State Park. Canoes and kayaks can be launched at the North East River Day Use Area as well as at the Rogue’s Harbor Boat Launch.
  • There is a seasonally open Nature Center that offers displays and programs about the natural and cultural history of Elk Neck; the center has live animals, local history displays, and hands-on activities for all ages.
  • Naturalists and rangers offer programs during the spring, summer and fall including Canoe Adventures, Campfire Programs, Reptile Shows, and Guided Hikes.
  • Native plants have been installed at the south end of the newly relocated Turkey Point parking area. Although planted for the primary purpose of stormwater management adjacent to the paved lot, the grasses and perennials are the kinds that attract and support pollinators, so this is a good spot to check for butterflies, moths, and other insects. Native trees have also been plated in the meadow near the parking area, and to reforest the previous route of the gravel road to the meadow.
  • The lighthouse is open to visitors on weekends and holidays, 10 am – 2 pm, from May through October, weather permitting. Small children who cannot reach the handrail are not allowed to enter. There is no fee to enter the lighthouse.
  • A giftshop at the lighthouse is open weekends and holidays from May through October, weather permitting. In addition to lighthouse-themed and Chesapeake Bay souvenirs, the giftshop carries bottled water and snacks.
  • Both the giftshop and the lighthouse visits are made possible by volunteers from the nonprofit Turkey Point Light Station, Inc., which operates as a “friends of” the lighthouse. They raise money for essential repairs and upgrades at the site and gladly accept donations.

Local MOS Chapter:

The local chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society is the Cecil Bird Club, offering field trips and occasional meetings and special events, all free and open to the public.

Multimedia: 

Parking:

A new, larger parking area is now open, in the first meadow at Turkey Point. From the community of Chesapeake Isles, enter the wooded area and drive uphill along the cliffs to enter the first meadow. The parking area will be dead ahead.

Do not park on the residential streets near Turkey Point in the nearby residential community of Chesapeake Isle; you will be ticketed and/or towed.

Other sections of Elk Neck State Park have ample parking in paved lots at the day-use, camping areas, and boat launch areas north of Turkey Point. All of these areas are remote from Turkey Point and it is not feasible to walk in from them.

Directions:

From I-95 north of Perryville: Take Exit 100 for MD Route 272 southbound for approximately 14 miles to where Route 272 ends at the parking lot for Turkey Point.

Nearby Sites:

Cecil County: Bethel Managed Hunting Area ◾ Bohemia River State Park  ◾ Courthouse Point Managed Hunting Area ◾  Elk Neck State Forest ◾ Elk River Park & Elkton Marsh ◾ Elkton – Meadow Park, Eder Park, Hatchery Park, & Howard’s Pond  ◾ Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area ◾Funk’s Pond Recreation Area & Old Conowingo Area ◾ North East Community Park ◾ Octoraro Creek Trail at Conowingo Park ◾ Perryville Community Park ◾ Port Deposit & Susquehanna River Road Driving Tour ◾Woodlawn Wildlife Area / New Beginnings

Habitats:

Bottomland Deciduous ForestsConifersHedgerowsUpland Deciduous Forests Hay Meadows, Pasture, Grass FieldOld Fields, Shrubby Meadows Forested SwampFreshwater Marsh or FloodplainMud Flats (Tidal or Non-Tidal)Open Ocean, Bay, or EstuaryRivers & Streams

Features:

BeginnersBicycle Trails (Bikes may be prohibited on some trails)Boat or Canoe/Kayak LaunchBoat RentalsCampingEntry Fee (for Some Areas, Other Areas Free)FishingHawk WatchHiking/Walking TrailsHorseback RidingHuntingOvernight Lodging or CabinsParkingPets AllowedPicnic AreaPlaygroundRestroomsSnack Bar, Camp Store, Food ConcessionsSwimmingWater ViewWheelchair Accessible FeaturesYoung People / Families

Type:

#1 Hotspot in County or CityAudubon Important Bird AreasChesapeake Bay Eastern ShoreChesapeake Bay Gateways NetworkNature CentersState ParksThe Rivers of the Eastern Shore