16,000 acres of salt marsh sit along Delaware Bay and most Americans have never heard of it

It’s the mid-Atlantic’s wildest shore

You probably don’t think of Delaware when you think of wild places.

But eight miles along Delaware Bay in Kent County, a 16,000-acre wildlife refuge sprawls across tidal salt marsh, forests, freshwater ponds, swamps and fields.

About four-fifths of it is salt marsh, and the Dutch settlers who named it called it “Boompjes Hoeck,” meaning “little-tree point.” Two international designations back up what the birds already know: this place matters.

The marsh holds Ramsar Wetland of International Importance and Globally Important Bird Area status, and what lives inside those 16,000 acres will keep you reaching for your binoculars all day long.

Duck stamp dollars built this refuge in 1937

Long before federal protection, Native Americans knew this stretch of bay as “Canaresse,” meaning “at the thickets.”

The U.S. government established Bombay Hook on March 16, 1937, as a stopover for migratory waterfowl traveling the Atlantic Flyway, and it bought the land from local owners with federal duck stamp funds.

A year later, the Civilian Conservation Corps moved in, built dikes and pools, raised an observation tower and planted more than 50,000 trees.

The Allee House, a 1750s home built by the son of a French Huguenot refugee, still stands on the property and sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

Over 300 bird species stop here year-round

Bombay Hook sits right along the Atlantic Flyway, the migration corridor that runs from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

More than 300 bird species have been recorded here, a mix of year-round residents and seasonal migrants. On any given visit, you might spot Canada geese, snow geese, mallards, pintails and black ducks working the water.

Look up and you could catch a bald eagle, a peregrine falcon or a northern harrier riding the wind above the marsh. That Globally Important Bird Area designation exists for a reason.

100,000 snow geese drop in for winter

When fall hits, snow geese pour into Bombay Hook by the thousands. Some winters, the count tops 100,000.

November is peak waterfowl season, and ducks and geese pack the freshwater pools so tight the water almost disappears beneath them.

Shearness Pool, the largest of four freshwater impoundments on the refuge, is your best bet for watching the big flocks gather.

Stick around into December and you’ll spot bald eagles perched on bare branches near the pools, waiting for an easy meal.

Horseshoe crabs feed the red knots every May

Delaware Bay ranks as the second largest staging area for spring migratory shorebirds in North America.

Every May and June, horseshoe crabs haul themselves onto the shore to lay eggs, and shorebirds like red knots, semipalmated sandpipers and dunlins descend to eat those eggs and fuel their long flights north.

Come fall, American avocets, marbled godwits and other shorebirds pass back through.

Twice a day, high tide pushes birds off the salt marsh mudflats and into the freshwater pools, where you can watch them feed just yards away.

Drive, bike or walk the 12-mile loop

The wildlife drive runs 12 miles through every major habitat on the refuge. You can take it by car, by bike or on foot.

The road follows the tops of dikes separating four freshwater impoundments from the tidal marsh, and the timing of your visit changes everything.

When high tide floods the salt marsh, birds crowd into the freshwater pools right along the drive, and you can spot them from your car window.

Come back a few hours later and the whole scene shifts as birds move between the marsh and the pools.

Walk the boardwalk over the tidal salt marsh

Five walking trails branch off the wildlife drive, all flat.

The Boardwalk Trail runs about half a mile and takes you directly over the tidal salt marsh, the only trail on the refuge that does.

Raymond Tower Trail and Shearness Tower Trail each lead to 30-foot observation towers looking out over freshwater pools.

Bear Swamp Trail brings you to a third tower and a floating viewing platform near the forest and freshwater marsh. Parsons Point Trail stretches one mile through freshwater marsh and forest.

Staff raise and lower four pools with the seasons

Four man-made freshwater impoundments sit inside the refuge: Raymond Pool, Shearness Pool, Finis Pool and Bear Swamp Pool.

Refuge staff control the water levels in each one to draw in different wildlife at different times of year. In spring, they pull water down to expose mudflats where shorebirds can feed.

In fall and winter, they raise levels to grow plants that attract ducks and geese. Finis Pool sits inside a coastal forest and draws basking turtles and woodland songbirds to its edges.

Red foxes and river otters roam at dawn

Birds get most of the attention, but more than 35 mammal species live on the refuge too.

Show up early in the morning and you might catch white-tailed deer, red foxes, river otters, beavers or muskrats moving along the water’s edge.

Down in the salt marsh mud, fiddler crabs scuttle by the hundreds. When the weather warms, the brackish ponds fill with blue crabs, killifish and mummichogs.

Turtles, frogs, toads, salamanders and non-venomous snakes round out the list throughout the refuge.

A $5.5 million visitor center opened in 2023

The refuge cut the ribbon on a brand-new visitor center in late 2023, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act as part of a $5.5 million upgrade.

The 7,300-square-foot building earned LEED Silver certification and runs on solar panels, with electric vehicle charging stations and bird-friendly window film on every pane.

Inside, you’ll find interpretive exhibits, an auditorium for nature films and a multipurpose room. The Blue Heron Gift Shoppe, run by the nonprofit Friends of Bombay Hook, sits inside too.

More than 100,000 people visit the refuge each year.

A great blue heron landed on the U.S. quarter

In 2015, Bombay Hook showed up on the America the Beautiful quarter as the 29th coin in the series.

Joel Iskowitz designed it, placing a great blue heron in the foreground with a great egret behind it, both standing in the salt marsh.

The U.S. Mint produced the quarter in both circulating and five-ounce silver versions. For Delaware, a state that fits inside some national forests, getting a refuge on a coin was a big deal.

Collectors still hunt for it.

This salt marsh keeps the Atlantic Flyway alive

Tidal salt marsh ranks among the most valuable wildlife habitat in Delaware. It feeds the food chain, raises fish and marine life, and gives waterfowl a place to nest.

Large stretches of Bombay Hook’s marsh have stayed in near-original condition since 1937, and that matters more every year as high-quality habitat along the Atlantic Flyway disappears elsewhere.

You can stand at the edge of this marsh, watch a bald eagle lift off a dead tree and know that the protection worked. The birds keep coming back because the place is still here.

Visit Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware

If you want to see all of this for yourself, head to 2591 Whitehall Neck Road in Smyrna, Delaware. The refuge stays open year-round from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

You’ll need to pay an entrance fee, and you can buy a pass in advance on the official website. The visitor center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on federal holidays.

Plan your drive around a morning high tide for the best birding.

Two of the five trails are wheelchair accessible, and if you come in summer, bring insect repellent and wear long sleeves and pants. The biting flies mean business.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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