Marjorie Preston reports for the Atlantic City Press
Visitors to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville will find lots of airborne companions: flocks of water fowl and warbling songbirds, egrets and eagles, hawks and hummingbirds.
This unspoiled sanctuary — more than 47,000 acres of it, stretching from Atlantic County to Brick Township — offers a glimpse of what local coastal landscapes may have looked like a century ago, before the region was developed (and overdeveloped).
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Season to season, the vast expanse of saltmarshes, isolated shores, and wooded trails is a favorite stopover for migratory birds like snowy owls, snow geese, Canada geese, mallards and others, some of which flock here by the tens of thousands to rest and feed before taking flight again.
Naturalist Kyle Chelius of Mullica Hill, who leads bird walks at the refuge every Friday morning, says Forsythe is “one of the greatest places in New Jersey to see birds,” as popular among avid birders as its friendly rival, Cape May. Both are key links in the 3,000-mile Atlantic Flyway, a sort of expressway for migrating birds that ranges from the Arctic tundra of Baffin Island to the fair climes of the Caribbean.
Walk on the wild side
Conveniently located along Route 9 in Galloway Township, Forsythe Wildlife Refuge—part of the National Wildlife Refuge System — is remarkably untouched by the tumult of modern life. This is a world of shimmering waters, waving grasses, native greenery and abundant wildlife, in the air, on foot and in the water. There’s a kind of hush about the place, punctuated only by birdsong and the occasional rustle of wings.
