My Favorite Birding Spots in Southern Delaware
Although it has been over a year now, it feels as if I only just recently completed the Birds of Delmarva project I worked on in 2023. Looking back, I can say I’m still blown away by the number of unique birds I was able to capture as part of that year-long project.
So, to commemorate the project, I decided this blog post would focus on my favorite birding spots in Southern Delaware. This means I’ll be leaving out places like Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, and Assateague Island - though all three are great birding spots in their own right as well.
Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge
We’ll start things off with Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, which spans a HUGE amount of land from Milford and the Fowler Beach area all the way down to the main refuge area in Milton. The more northern reaches of the refuge, like the Fowler Beach area and Prime Hook Beach Road, are primarily stretches that you can drive through - though Fowler Beach does have some coastline you can explore as well when open (it closes for the beach nesting bird season).
The main refuge area, accessed via Broadkill Road in Milton, has a few roads you can drive on that branch off the main road into the refuge - the main road ends at the refuge office and a small kayak launch area.
Thanks in large part to its expansive area, Prime Hook offers an array of different habitats, which in turn means you have opportunities to view many different varieties of birds.
For example, up at Fowler Beach, you can walk the coast and see different shore birds and sandpipers, while the main refuge area has some woodland areas that make ideal places to search for owls, woodpeckers, and more.
Some of my personal favorite birds that I have captured in Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge include a barred owl (the only one I’ve ever seen in the wild), a sanderling along Fowler Beach, and a northern flicker that lives along the Boardwalk Trail by the refuge office.
Cape Henlopen State Park
Continuing on, we’ll head south to the Lewes and Rehoboth area to Cape Henlopen State Park. In some ways, Cape Henlopen is similar to Prime Hook due to the different sorts of habitats it has including:
Beaches (both bay and ocean beaches)
Marshes
Woodlands
When I go to Cape Henlopen State Park, most of my time is spent on the beaches or the marshlands along the Gordon’s Pond Trail. There are some trails through the woods, like the Pinelands Nature Trail or the Salt Marsh Spur, but I tend to stick with the areas I know best in Cape Henlopen - Gordon’s Pond, and The Point (Cape Henlopen itself).
These trails and hikes are some of my more frequent walks when I go out to shoot - their proximity to where I live makes them easy to access - but on top of that, I also know I’m almost always guaranteed to see some sort of bird activity.
A few of my favorite birds to photograph in Cape Henlopen State Park include bald eagles, great blue herons, wild turkeys, and some different species of plover (though I will admit, the beach-nesting piping plover has thus far eluded my lens despite repeated efforts…)
Burton’s Island Trail
As we continue through Southern Delaware, the next stop we’ll make is the Burton’s Island Trail in Delaware Seashore State Park, accessed via a small gangway near the Indian River Marina. In fact, if you’ve ever boated in the Indian River Bay, you’ve probably seen Burton’s Island from the water.
This trail is about one mile long, and features pine forests, marshlands, and aquatic habitats. From the island, you can look out onto Indian River Bay and spot birds like loons, cormorants, and gulls, while the other habitats are ideal for different woodpeckers, herons, and more.
It has been a little while since I’ve been to Burton’s Island, but the last time I was there I captured one of Delaware’s most beautiful native species - the cedar waxwing - which was certainly a treat! There were a few of them up in a juniper tree, eating the berries from its branches, and one posed just right, just long enough for me to get a good shot in.
James Farm Ecological Preserve
We’ll finish this birding tour of Southern Delaware with a stop at James Farm Ecological Preserve in the Ocean View area. James Farm is overseen by the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, and its habitats are very close to those at Burton’s Island just up the coast.
In the preserve, there are several trails that traverese these many habitats, identified by different colors. On some of them, you’ll be treated to birding blinds and other platforms to search for wildlife from - each time I have gone to James Farm, I’ve been fortunate to have these platforms all to myself, making the experience quite relaxing.
James Farm is also where I’ve done the most woodland birding, spending time along the red trail which winds through the woods toward the Indian River Bay. On the red trail, you can really get a sense of the different species you can find when birding in Delaware just by listening - I’ve heard hawks, crows, ospreys, cardinals, blue jays, and so many other types of birds during my walks on this trail.
A few of my favorite birds to capture on camera in James Farm Ecological Preserve are the great-crested flycatcher, tufted titmouse, and blue jays.
Appreciating Time in Nature
Above all else from the time I spent capturing different bird species in 2023, I learned that it is important to appreciate the time you get to spend out in nature. This lesson, though learned in 2023, became even more apparent over the course of 2024 when I spent more time taking on paid work than I did pursuing projects like this one.
Getting out and seeing animals in their natural habitats, whether that is a bird, fox, wild horse, insect, or other creature, is truly an experience like no other. One of my goals in 2025 is to rediscover that passion and excitement, and I’m looking forward to bringning you along for the journey - with this blog post hopefully being the first step.
With that, I’ll bring this post to a close with this question - what places have you gone birding either in Southern Delaware or elsewhere on Delmarva that you’ve really enjoyed? Leave a comment down below so other readers can check them out as well!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and see you out there!
- Tyler
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