Bethel Beach Natural Area Preserve is a sandy spit of low dunes and salt marsh habitat separating the eastern side of Winter Harbor in Mathews County from the Chesapeake Bay. Winds and water move sand creating an ever changing habitat on the narrow beach, apparently to the liking of the Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle, an endangered and Federally protected insect that thrives in these sands. Scan the beach and offshore bay waters, tidal lagoons, salt marsh, shrubby swamp, and deeper channels during any season to discover over 185 species of birds, including 25 species of shorebirds, that have been sited here.