John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Philadelphia
27 September 2007

The last time (and in fact only other) time I visited Philadelphia’s John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge - the largest remaining freshwater marsh in Pennsylvania, and re-named in 1992 from ‘Tinicum Marsh’ after the Senator who worked so hard to protect the refuge’s 1000 or so acres from a proposed highway development - the snow was thick on the ground (see photo left), the water in the refuge was frozen, and my feet got very cold because stupidly I’d just brought a worn pair of track-shoes instead of my hiking boots. (Why would you do that Charlie? Well, because before I left London I hadn’t intended to leave the hotel because of the cold weather but when I woke in the morning the sun was shining and I figured ‘what the heck, I don’t have my boots but how cold could it be?’ Very in fact, but I’m still glad I went -there may have been few birds, but it’s a lovely place and looked like a Christmas card scene (if anyone were to make a Christmas card featuring a swamp next to an airport of course…sorry, I’m digressing…).

This time (if you can remember right back to the start of this story) the forecast had been for light rain, so I’d come prepared with a sweater and a coat. As it was, the dawn rose up through a veil of mist but the sun shone brilliantly after that and the coat was just an extra item to carry - all of which may not seem very relevant, but in fact as this report unwinds the relevance does become apparent I promise.

Anyway, birding at John Heinz is (as far as I can tell) mainly a matter of walking an easy to follow trail, firstly east and south from the car park along an embankment between a large artificial ‘impoundment’ (basically a shallow lake) and Darby Creek, and then back towards the car park and information centre west and north along a narrower path that cuts through some decent woodland that grows between the impoundment and the I-95 highway (the road that was re-routed to protect the refuge). This circuit really only covers about a third of the Refuge, but takes a couple of hours to walk and is a perfect length for anyone, like me for instance, who has a flight back to the UK in the afternoon (which may not be many people reading this, but you get my point).

Before I go any further perhaps it’s worth commenting on the fact that as idyllic wilderness goes, John Heinz Refuge is as far removed from idyllic wilderness as the average central reservation. Not only is it within yards of a very busy Interstate highway, it’s also no more than a mile from Philadelphia’s International airport.

Add to those sources of non-idyllic-ness what sounds like a factory-sized car alarm going off every thirty minutes from a nearby industrial estate and what John Heinz doesn’t offer is peace and quiet. However - and it’s very big however - in my opinion that’s partly what makes this reserve so special: it’s a survivor, a fragment of what was once a much larger whole but all the more important for that. And it’s survived only because a group of locals got together and fought long and hard that it shouldn’t be buried under tarmac and spoil, and because the aforementioned John Heinz carried that fight into the Senate. All of which I only mention because I remember reading a comment left on a website about the refuge which said that it was noisy and smelly: it is, but that’s missing the point by a country mile. Noisy and smelly it may be, but at least it’s still here, it’s free to anyone to walk around it, and it’s as symbolic of what can be achieved by local activism as it is important to the birds that still use it.

Aha - finally he’s mentioned ‘birds’ (and not a moment too soon). Right, dear reader, I get the point - let’s talk about birds again. The hardcore birders amongst you will probably have seen where I was heading with the weather report I gave you earlier. Weather impacts on migration hugely: basically put, if it is overcast and showery migrant birds tend to land more and feed for longer, if it’s beautiful and you can see clear to the Gulf of Mexico from 5000′ above downtown Philly you’re going to want to push on and reach warmer southern climes asap.

An early mist however is temporarily confusing for everyone: migrants get a little damp and aren’t sure whether to stay or go, and birders get thrown by the odd light and the strange phenomenon where chickadees suddenly look the size of crows and colours disappear as if a giant “desaturate” switch had been flicked somewhere. (When you add in a bit of jet-lag and an early start without breakfast you can guarantee seeing all manner of peculiar species - hence my mentally ticking off the first birds I saw in the Refuge as “guineafowl”, then remembering a few seconds later that I was south of Philadlephia not south of Johannesburg, and then realising that I was looking at a group of five Turkeys fussing about in the fog (all of which didn’t go down too well when about six hours later I related the same tale to a photographer cruising slowly by in his car looking for the hundredth time for the Turkeys he was sure no-one ever saw). The early bird gets the worm etc etc, which I didn’t say incidentally as he was quite a big guy and I’m not.)

The birding itself got off to quite a promising start though. Despite being hampered by the poor light a black and white warbler I found really was a Black and White Warbler, the bright primrose underparts of a Yellowthroat would have been unmistakeable in the dark, the complex patterns of a Magnolia Warbler couldn’t have been anything else, I pished in a few Carolina Chickadees (John Heinz is the only place I fly to where I see these, incidentally, which you may or may not find interesting depending on how closely you follow my reports), and they were joined by a yellowish American Redstart and two of the three species of wren I saw during the day (Carolina and House). Not a bad start really, all things considered.

Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia

American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla

And it all got even better when two pale looking lumps crossing the path at tree-top level hung around long enough to turn into non-breeding Scarlet Tanagers, and then give pretty reasonable views as the sun began to rapidly burn off the mist. And as I was watching the tanagers I realised that there were two Northern Parulas flicking around in the canopy above them. Who needs Cape May when you’ve got a morning at John Heinz!

Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea

Forty-five minutes later the mist was all but gone, the sun shone in a cloudless sky, and things on the birding front were definitely already slowing down. A wiser man may well have thought to himself at this point, “Hmm, I’ve seen a few birds but now the sun’s coming out I could just give up and return to the hotel for some much-needed sleep”, but I’ve never been known as a wise man - and besides, who cares if migrants aren’t exactly fighting over themselves to get logged when it’s a warm September day, there are young Tree Swallows buzzing about, and the roar from the I-95 away to the west is still being swallowed up the sallows and the willows? Not me for one. Besides, who could turn away from a scene like the one below unless they really have to?

Next up I decided to bird from a boardwalk that crosses the impoundment on the boundary of open water one side and a large chunk of marsh vegetation on the other. This (as it turns out) is a cracking place to see what for me is a decidedly uncommon bird - the Marsh Wren (the last of the day’s three wren species - a triumvirate I’m only harping on about as us Europeans only ever get to see one species, the Winter Wren, no matter how hard we look).

Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris

Compared with the drably-dressed House Wren the small and retiring Marsh Wren is a Beau Brummel, smartly turned out in stripes and spots and a gorgeously rich chestnut-brown plumage that always reminds me of South American antbirds (and strangely enough the chocolate puddings we serve in Business Class). Why birds that live deep in the bowels of swamps need to be so beautifully marked I’ll never work out, but there are plenty of birds that are and more power to them. They certainly brighten up the day anyway (and if you’re in any doubt check out one of Charles Darwin’s supposedly favourite birds, the stunning and frankly over-the-top Many-coloured Rush Tyrant found in southern South American reedbeds).

John Heinz has a good reputation for attracting shorebirds, and the open water was dotted with them. Despite a good search through I could only find plenty of Lesser Yellowlegs, one , and one Semipalmated Sandpiper, but I was assured later in the morning by Refuge staff that there had been a good passage of Pectoral and Baird’s Sandpipers a few days before, and that one or two Solitary Sandpipers (a bird I’ve still only ever seen as a vagrant in the UK and never as a migrant in the US) had been seen in a part of the Refuge I didn’t get to (where incidentally flocks of Bobolink had also been gorging on Wild Rice). Never mind though, I’ve been birding far too long to worry about what I’ve missed by being in another part of the world anymore, and Lesser Yellowlegs are always worth seeing when all is said and done.

Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes

I took the sunny scene photo above from the second level of an observation tower about half-way around the western part of the refuge (from where I saw a Sora and four Chimney Swifts - one by looking down, the others by looking up). The refuge has a number of hides and observation points scattered around, and each one is worth a quick stop at if you have the time. Any of the short walks to a point overlooking Darby Creek reveals a good place to see birds like Belted Kingfisher and Wood Duck, and I took the photograph that follows this sentence from a small hide about halfway around the circuit I described about - oh, an hour or so ago…

What is it? Well, surprisingly this is not a drab female Yellowthroat: if you’d like the answer, check out A Trick of the Light, a post I put online at the end of last month which explains all…

Once you reach the halfway point the trail bends back on itself and for the next few hundred yards you do feel like you’re birding the edge of a VERY busy highway. There are some excellent views across the impoundment here, and overlooking the deeper water this is a good spot to see herons and egrets.

View looking north, note the boardwalk in the far background.

Picking up passerines by call here is all but impossible though for some reason I don’t understand there were more Grey Catbirds along the path here than anywhere else at John Heinz - and John Heinz has a LOT of Grey Catbirds. It’s as if the Refuge is one large convention centre for catbirds. I was almost expecting a man from the Guinness Book of World Records to suddenly appear and confirm that, yes, the catbirds here had exceeded the “number of catbirds stuffed into one refuge” record by - ooh, lots and lots. Catbirds are everywhere in fact. And they seem to like feeding by the I-95. Maybe David Sibley will read this post and explain why…

Fortunately for any birder who prefers NOT to bird by the side of a highway this patch is cleared quickly enough and you soon find yourself in some surprisingly mature woodland. I didn’t actually pick up too many birds here - as mentioned earlier the sun was up, the weather excellent for migration, and I’ve a feeling that most birds that may have been here in the morning were by now halfway to Florida and had no intention of stopping.

Having said that I did find a couple of Brown Thrashers, a male Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Red-eyed Vireo, and a shade-hugging Northern Waterthrush - none of which I managed to photograph (which is not the sort of strike rate that makes me particularly proud). I did however get a rather nice photo of a still spotty young American Robin which will have to do.

American Robin Turdus migratorius>

And that’s about my morning. As you might expect in late September there were a few Monarch butterflies on the wing, and I did stop into the Cusano Environmental Centre before I left (it’s open between 08:30am and 16:00pm) to report my sightings and read the visitor logbook. It’s well worth a visit - the staff are friendly, there’s a raft of information of marsh ecology and conservation, and it’s air-conditioned!

I really must also say that in the Center I met another birder, Tony “Pointless” Croasdale who younger Philly readers may know as the onetime lead singer of the anarchist-hardcore punk band RAMBO. Tony is a rather large, dreadlocked 30 year old covered in tattoos who if you met in the backstreets of downtown Philly might have you clutching your wallet and looking for somewhere to hide - but is actually a really genial, well-travelled, and intelligent birder. We spent about thirty minutes chatting (and finding Prairie Warbler and Eastern Phoebe), and if you do happen to be in John Heinz and a bear-like scary guy comes towards you - don’t worry, he’s friendly (sorry, Tony, couldn’t resist it!)…

Day List::
Common Turkey Meleagris gallopavo 5; Canada Goose Branta canadensis 20+; Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 10+; Blue-winged Teal Anas discors c)10; Wood Duck Aix sponsa 3; Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps 2; Green-backed Heron Butorides virescens 5-6; Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias 20+; Great Egret Egretta alba 80+; Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritusc)20; Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii 1; Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis 1; Sora Rail Porzana carolina 1; Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca 1; Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes 1; Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla 1; Mew Gull Larus canus 2+; Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis 10+; Caspian Tern Sterna caspia 1; Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura 1; Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica 3; Belted Kingfisher Ceryle alcyon 1; Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens 3; Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus 3-4; Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe 2; Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus 1; American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos c)10; Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum 1; Carolina Chickadee Poecile carolinensis 4-5; Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor c)30; Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris 3; Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus 2; House Wren Troglodytes aedon 3; Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis 30+; Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum 2; Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 100+; American Robin Turdus migratorius 40+; American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis 2; Northern Parula Parula americana 2; Magnolia Warbler Dendroica magnolia 2; Black-throated Blue Warbler Dendroica caerulescens 1; Prairie Warbler Dendroica discolor 1; Palm Warbler Dendroica palmarum 3-4; Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia 3; American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla 2; Northern Waterthrush Seiurus noveboracensis 1; Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas c)10; Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus 50+; Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia 50+; Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis 1; Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea 2; Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis 3-4

Getting to John Heinz IWR:

• To get there by car:
  - Head towards the international airport on I-95 and take Exit 10 (on to Rt. 291)
  - At the first light, turn left onto Bartram Ave.
  - At the fourth light, turn left onto 84th St.
  - At the second light, turn left onto Lindbergh Blvd. The refuge entrance is about 200m on the right and well-signed.

• To get there by public transport:
  The refuge is within a very easy fifteen minute walk of Eastwick Metro Station, which itself is just twenty minutes or so from downtown Philly on the R1 (the main line to the airport).
  Return fare was just 6USD and trains run every thirty minutes.

For a full checklist of the birds of the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge go to USGS - Heinz Checklist

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores