Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
New Jersey, USA
12 March 2006

Near Middle Brook, Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

I’m back in New Jersey for the second time this year. The first time (six weeks ago) it snowed - great bucketfuls of the stuff tearing in on a howling wind - and this time it’s raining. It’s a bit irritating really, as yesterday New Yorkers were lying on the grass in Central Park in their underwear greeting the sun like it was a long-lost family member - today the whole of the east coast is wrapped up against an invading horde of cold showers that had outstayed their welcome by mid-morning…

New Jersey is nicknamed “The Garden State”, but because I’ve never had time to explore properly I’ve always thought that “The Business Park State” fitted better. The drive from Newark airport to the various hotels that we’ve stayed in over the years has been notably unspectacular, a succession of look-alike developments fringing the main highways that always seemed to end in a cul de sac with a 1980’s hotel dumped in it. However, we’ve recently been staying in Morristown, an attractive smallish town with a “small town” feel (it’s like being on the set of “Back to the Future” actually) and things have looked up considerably. Though I could find nothing on the internet to suggest that there might be any birding nearby, fortunately my good friend and 10,000 Birds colleague Mike, a Brooklyn resident, remembered that somewhere not far from Morristown there was a “big swamp”, and if I wanted to visit it he’d drive over from NY and take me there. A good birding area near Morristown? Wiith the prospect of the drizzle thinning out by lunchtime and a visit to a new site I was definitely keen…

The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is indeed close to Morristown - in fact on a good day (and with a following wind, as my old gran used to say) you could probably walk there, though hiking along Interstate 287 is not something I’m about to recommend under any circumstances. The easiest way (for those of us with limited time) is unfortunately in a car or cab (the main headquarters are just 7 miles from Morristown so cab fare should be about 25USD). From Junction 30A the road very quickly goes into the outer areas of “Great Swamp” and it becomes apparent very quickly that this is a “top spot”: well-wooded, very wet (especially in the rain), and looking remarkably like the drive into Canada’s Rondeau National Park (though with smaller trees).

As we were a little short of time we skipped going to the Refuge Headquarters (which are closed at the weekends) and went straight to the well-signposted Wildlife Observation Centre off Long Hill Road (all the photos on this page were taken in this area). Here we found ourselves in the middle of 7500 acres of beautiful swamp woodland, cattail marsh, and grassland, formed by the meltwater from the retreating Wisconsin Glacier some 25000 years ago,

Separated into two discrete sections - a wilderness area where all traces of humanity have been removed, and a smaller section with wide, wheelchair-friendly, and very well-maintained boardwalks and a couple of large hides/blinds (with ramped access) - the Great Swamp (bought, apparently, as part of a package from the Delaware Indians by English investors in 1708 for a barrel of rum, 4 cutlasses, 15 kettles, 4 pistols and 30 pounds cash) turns out to be a superb birding site where more than 222 bird species (as of 2001) have been found.

Of course, that 222 includes many migrants and visitors: about 40 wood-warblers, 6 vireos, 7 swallows, and 10 flycatchers of various sorts are listed, plus rarities like Ruff, Black Tern, and Le Conte’s Sparrow. Mid-March in the rain is perhaps not the best time to see a northern swamp, but I have to say that the Great Swamp feels like a really “great” place and it’s potential will be very obvious to any visiting birder. It’s well-laid out and well-organised, the emhasis is on conservation and education - and the suet and seed feeders are kept full in spite of the best efforts of numerous Grey Squirrels and both Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers who do their best to empty them. I know this mainly because the normally effervescent Mike and I spent most of our time chatting and peering quietly out through the slats of a large and well-constructed hide overlooking one such feeder as heavy showers whistled across the ponds and through the trees and made wandering around in the open a fairly miserable experience.

Whilst we didn’t in truth see all that many birds, what we did see was pretty good for a day like this: with American Black and Wood Ducks, American Tree, Song, and White-throated Sparrows, and a miscellany of typical woodland species including Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches to keep us company it was actually a very pleasant three hours indeed. (Roll on the summer, and all those warblers though…)

Female Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens

Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea

Song Sparrow Spizella melodia

Mike - great bloke, great blog…

Day List:
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps 3; Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias 1; Canada Goose Branta canadensis +; Wood Duck Aix sponsa 6; American Black Duck Anas rubripes 6-8; Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 10+; Northen Shoveler Anas clypeata 4; Northern Pintail Anas acuta 6; Common Goldeneye 1; Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura 1; Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamacensis 2 ; Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura 2-3; Red-bellied Woodecker Melanerpes carolinus 3-4; Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens 8-10; Northen Flicker Colaptes auratus 1; American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos c)10; Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapilla 6-8; Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor 6-8; White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis 2-3; American Robin Turdus migratorius 2-3 (photo left); American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea c)20; Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia 5-6; White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis 3; Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis 5-6; Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis 2; Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula 3-4; Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus c)10; House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus 1

• Refuge Headquarters are located at 152 Pleasant Plains Road, and are open from 08:00 - 16:30 Monday-Friday (though may open longer during the migration periods). Camping is not permitted and pets must be kept on a leash and are allowed only along Pleasant Plains Road and in parking areas.
• Other wildlife here includes (according to the information leaflet I picked up which dated from 1999) White-tailed Deer, River Otter, Beaver, Muskrat, Coyote, Opposum, the federally-threatened Bog Turtle, and the State-endangered Blue-spotted Salamander.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores.