Bombay Hook NWR

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge is located near Dover, Delaware. This spectacular refuge contains 15,978 acres of salt marsh, ponds, forests, and open fields. Because of the habitat diversity, participants can expect to see many other land and water birds as well. Past DC Audubon field trips to Bombay Hook have sighted close to 90 species in one day.

Bombay Hook is one of the best places in the Mid-Atlantic region to observe migrating shorebirds, including avocets, stilts, and dowitchers. If time permits, we may visit another site along the Delaware coast after touring Bombay Hook. In May and August during the peaks of shorebird migration, one can see thousands of shorebirds.

In winter, the refuge becomes a magnet for waterfowl. The thousands of snow geese that spend each night in the impoundments are a major attraction for birders. 

Shorebirding trips to Bombay Hook from DC traditionally stop at Port Mahon Road to check for red knots or Ted Harvey Conservation Area for unusual terns. Agricultural fields outside the refuge can be good for open country birds such as horned lark, bobolink, meadowlark, and upland sandpiper.

Directions: From the DC area, get on Rte. 50 heading east. Cross the Bay Bridge. Once on the Eastern Shore, take Rte. 301 northeast (this splits off from Rte. 50). Go about 34 miles from this point and turn right on Rte. 300.which runs east through farmland. Go 15 miles to Kenton, Delaware. At the traffic light in Kenton go right on Del. 42, which ends after 9 miles in Leipsic, crossing Rte. 13 en route. (Be very careful in Delaware, there are lots of speed traps in these towns.) Go left (north) in Leipsic on Rte. 9 1.5 miles to the Bombay Hook entrance sign and turn right.