Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
There is a $4 entrance fee.
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 39.46491, -74.45081
TRAIL MAP:
Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge Map - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
HIKE DISTANCE: 8.9 miles
THE HIKE:
I had hiked the trails 10 years ago but now dogs are not allowed on some of the hiking trails. This time I wanted to hike the Wildlife Drive. It is amazing how much you see when you walk instead of drive.
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| At the far end of the parking lot there is a payment area for the entrance fee. |
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| To the left of the payment area is the Bristol Trail. |
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| At the T intersection at the bottom of the steps we turned right and would be returning from the left. |
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| It's a short distance to the gate where we continued straight on the Wildlife Drive. |
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| The cars passing by are quite annoying, especially when you are trying to take pictures but early in the morning there were lots of car-free stretches. Not so much later in the day. |
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| It was a last minute decision to hike here based on what the weather was doing at 6 AM before I left the house. There was rain and considerable cloudiness everywhere else. This sliver of New Jersey turned out to have quite nice weather. Windy but 60 degrees with some blue sky and sunshine. |
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| Great Blue Heron with breakfast. |
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| Looking for more to eat. |
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| Juvenile Bale Eagle |
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| Observation tower up ahead. |
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| Looking back from the second level of the observation tower. It was too windy to go any higher. |
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| Northern Pintails in the foreground with three Green-winged Teals behind them. |
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| Another young bald eagle with his head not completely turned white and no white tail yet. |
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| Atlantic City |
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| All kinds of gulls. |
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| Northern Pintail |
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| Northern Pintail Couples |
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| Northern Shoveler - there were lots of these around. |
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| Sleeping Northern Shovelers |
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| Male Bufflehead ... |
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| ... and a group of female Buffleheads. |
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| Brants |
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| Dunlins |
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| American Black Duck |
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| Snow Geese |
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| Great Egret |
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| Snow Geese |
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| A little bit of everything. |
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| Great Egret in flight. |
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| Great Blue Heron in flight. |
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| American Black Ducks |
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| Having gone 3/4 of the way around the Wildlife Drive and with traffic increasing to the point of highly annoying, it was time to head off to the hiking trails up ahead. |
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| A little pond off to the left of the trail. |
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| Meeting back up with the Wildlife Drive where we turned right. |
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| The Bristol Trail leaves the Wildlife Drive to the left. |
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| Turning right back up the steps ... |
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| ... to the parking lot. |
Looks like a fantastic walk! Beautiful photos and so many birds!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jodie! I want to go back in the spring when the birds are migrating back from the south. I am sure there will be many more then!
DeleteOne of my favorite places in all of New Jersey. I only wish they would put a walking path parallel to the loop road. I walked it once and it was just not enjoyable worrying about traffic. The other 3 times I drove and made frequent stops. PS: Happy New Year! Looking forward to your 2025 hikes.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the exact same thing that there should be a walking path. Even then you would still get a lung full of pickup truck exhaust every so often. If I go again in the spring I can start earlier because it will be light sooner so maybe it won't be as bad. Traffic seems to pick up later in the morning. Happy New Year!
DeleteHi Daniela -- another SJ adventure...excellent! And what an excellent place to hike. (Bless you for hiking on Wildlife Drive...I've only hiked on the sections that merged with the hiking trails, but I cannot imagine hiking the whole thing!) Of course, I'm guessing it's not so bad in the Winter, but I can agree that the cars can be annoying, but I suppose hikers are sort of on the cars' "turf" at that point. (Although, please cast my vote to add a separate walking/hiking trail parallel to Wildlife Drive!!) I've driven it a few times, one of which was with my wife and mother (in mid-June 2017), so we would only stop for brief periods of time (think flies... 😧 ) But that aside, it is indeed quite the mecca for birds...I've never been disappointed in that department! (Guess I should go back at some point, as I have a newer phone that has plenty o'room for the Merlin Bird ID app. 😁) Anyway, it looks like you did a "super loop", with breaking away from Wildlife Drive and hitting Jen's Trail, and finishing with the Songbird Trail. I like Jen's Trail, but I will never _ever_ make the mistake again of hiking it in the summer...was practically eaten alive by the biting flies!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as you said, hopefully you'll return in the spring...cannot wait!
Jim
And this is precisely why you won't find me in South Jersey in the summer, LOL! It was probably about 25 years ago when I was at the then Lebanon State Forest (now Brendan Byrne) and the flies were so bad my dog's head was bleeding like you would not believe from fly bites. It was like Revenge of the Biting Flies. Have not hiked in South Jersey since in the summer! I'd like to hit Edwin Forsythe again maybe in April when birds are migrating but bugs are still in hell.
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