Baltimore County, MD Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

0481 acres near Smith Avenue and Skywood/Topwood Courts and belonging to the Doncaster Village Condominium, as a bird sanctuary. Within that mapped boundary only, the section makes it unlawful to physically abuse, injure, or kill in any manner any wild bird or wild fowl, or to rob or destroy any wild bird or wild fowl nests. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500. The ban does not reach activities connected with a public works project, environmental restoration, or forest management project inside the sanctuary.

The section also builds in a nuisance-bird process: if starlings or similar birds congregate in numbers that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources considers a nuisance or menace to health or property, DNR must first meet with the Maryland Ornithological Society, District III of the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland, the Woodbrook-Murray Hill Garden Club, and the Humane Society before any birds may be destroyed, and destruction then proceeds only under the supervision of the county's Chief of Police. Outside the mapped sanctuary boundary, Baltimore County has no comparable local bird-protection ordinance; state and federal migratory-bird law governs everywhere else in the county.