Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Another one of my favorite areas to photograph is Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge located in Smyrna, Delaware.  I first visited the refuge back in my film days during the winter because it was a great location to photograph the snow geese blasting out of the impoundments.  More recently, after taking part in the new River birding and nature Festival in West Virginia, I would travel down to Delaware and spend a few days photographing around the refuge.  The sanctuary is close to Dover, Delaware.  Springtime is another excellent time to visit because during May horseshoe crabs would start to lay their eggs at the shallow waters edge and that the migrating shorebirds will congregate to feed themselves as they would continue migrating breeding grounds in the Arctic.

The refuge is open a half-hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset daily.  There is a visitors center, which is open year-round on weekdays from 8 to 4 PM, and in the spring and fall weekends.  It is open from 9 to 5 PM.  What makes the refuge great is the 12-mile wildlife drive, which allows you to photograph from your car.  There are five walking trails along with three observation towers.

In the spring.  There are a multiple tootle bird species present from passerine's, waiting and shorebirds, to raptors.  Mammals, ranging from deer to foxes and amphibians and reptiles can be seen and photographed.

Fact, this May I am planning a trip down to photograph this wonderful area again.

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware

As in the last 2 years, I finish my trip to West Virginia by traveling down to Delaware, to spend a few days at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. This year, Bombay Pork is celebrating its 75th anniversary. A few facts about the refuge from the government's brochure: " Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge was est. March 16, 1937 as a resting and feeding area for migratory and wintering waterfowl. The refuge was purchased from local landowners would Federal duck stamp funds. Today the refuge totals 15,978 acres".




"On April 1, 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) based at Leipsic started work on the refuge. The CCC constructed dikes, buildings, water control structures and impoundments. The CCC built Raymond Pool, removed timber from Shearness and Finis swamps, transplanted 300 ash trees, built a 99 foot look-out tower and a boat house, ran ditches for mosquito control, and conducted various wildlife surveys. The camp ended March 18,1942."



The Allee House at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge stands today, as it did in the eighteenth century, overlooking the fields and marshes of Kent County. It is one of the most handsome and best preserved examples of an early brick farmhouse in Delaware.

The Allee House was built about 1753 by Abraham Allee, the son of John Allee, a Huguenot refugee from Artois, France.



The refuge offers visitors a 12-mile auto tour, five walking trails, 3, observation towers, wildlife photography, hunting opportunities, along would a variety of nature educational programs, and interpretive displays.



After my son and I arrived and it's checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Dover, Delaware. We drove to the refuge and started our first drive around the loop. My first trip with many stops to take photographs took us around 4 hours. The next day we arrived just after sunrise and the first loop took us over 5 hours.



After we finished that loop, we traveled down to Little Creek, because it was a high moon tide, the check on the horseshoe crabs and to see what, if any, shorebirds were there. Because of the flooding that had taken place, because of the moon tides the road was in poor shape, but with my Sunday Santa Fe at all will/four-wheel drive, we had no problem traveling down the road. We saw a a large amount the hostile crabs scattered all over the shoreline, and many different species of gulls feeding, but only a few shorebirds were present.



After a short break and a rest at the motel, we again did a loop around the refuge. The next day, we again did two loops, one in the morning and one in the afternoon to evening. The afternoon/evening trip was an adventure due to intermittent rain, hot, no wind, and a huge number of biting insects that "ate us alive.," Despite insect repellent.



It was raining every last day and so we just gathered up our belongings and started the journey home.



Bombay Hook is great to visit for birding and photography in both the spring and fall, during migration and in the winter, when the snow geese come to winter over.

Eastern Kingbird

American Avocet



Great Egret

Bald Eagle - 2nd Year

Great Egret

Great Egret

Blue Grosbeak

Willet

Great Blue Heron

Blue Grosbeak

Short-billed Dowitcher

Great Egret - breeding colors

Raccoon

For Addional photographs go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/photobee1/sets/72157624001437150/

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and a Great Egret Feeding

Besides preparing for my next trip, I have been reviewing some old photographs that I took last year. I found this series that I thought I would share with you. It is of a great egret feeding sequence that I obtain down at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware last May.

Bombay Hook is a great place to visit, both in the spring, with the migration, especially of shorebirds, and in the early winter, when the snow geese are in the refuge. I had photographed the snow geese at the refuge 20+ years ago and I hope to do it again in either November or December.

There is an excellent road system on the refuge, that allows close views of the wildlife. There also are a number of hiking trails that you can traverse. Early-morning and late afternoon. The best times to photograph, although I have gotten excellent pictures in the late morning.

The website for Bombay Hook is http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

Bombay Hook is located close to Dover, Delaware, where there are a number of motels and restaurants available for you to stay at and eat.  Here is a map of the Refuge.

Now here is the sequence of the great egret feeding. These pictures were taken from my car, on the loop road, with my Nikon D 300s and a Sigma 150-500 lens utilizing a beanbag on the window.