By Colin Campbell

You enter Delaware City from the north via Rt 9 directly from New Castle or coming off Rt 1 on Rt 72 east about eight miles south of I-95. Your nostrils are assailed frequently by the sulphides emanating from the Premcor refinery and you ask yourself why the amazing profits from the oil industry of late can’t be used to address the stink problem. But all these thoughts disappear as you pull up on the right shoulder at a small bridge over a sluice gate just before entering Delaware City. A view to the right gives a small, angled view of Dragon Run Marsh. Wood Ducks, Pied-billed Grebe, geese and ducks can be seen in season without getting out of your car. Spring and summer can yield close kingfisher and even Least Bittern at this spot, which is always worth checking for passerines on both sides of the road.

A couple of hundred yards further on, hang a right in front of the brand new fire station and proceed to the parking lot at Dragon Run Park. Take your scope and walk out across the Little League baseball ground to a small concrete platform which serves as an admirable base for your tripod. You can scan some of Dragon Run Marsh, but this year’s incredible vegetative growth has blocked some of the peripheral views. The passage of herons in spring and summer can be impressive as they flight to and from the Pea Patch Island heronry. Little Blue Herons and Glossy Ibis are particularly attracted to this marsh. Look for breeding moorhen, an increasingly rare bird in the state and coot in the colder months. This was the last breeding place of the Purple Gallinule in the state in 1975, but the species has not been documented in the state since 1976. Bald Eagles have nested here.

Return to Rt 9 and turn right to the light and take a left. This is Clinton Street, DC’s main drag. It is wide and quite attractive with a few shops and eating places. At the eastern end, by the Delaware River, is a parking area (Veteran’s Park) from where you can scope Pea Patch Island with the historic Fort Delaware and the second largest heronry in the eastern US. From April to September, one can view the comings and goings of up to nine species of heron and Glossy Ibis. The three white egrets, Great and Little Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night-Herons are the commonest, but with patience and the right timing, individuals from the small populations of Tricolored Heron and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron can be found and Green Heron is occasionally found on the local mainland side. Double-crested Cormorants have bred recently on a marker buoy in the river. Caspian, Forster’s and the occasional Royal Tern can be seen in the warmer months when Ospreys abound. Try a crab cake sandwich and a beer on the deck of the Canal House Tavern while still birding!

Delaware River Bay Authority operates a ferry from the end of April to mid-September from here to Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island and on to Fort Mott in NJ. It’s a delightful day out, and the Club has run this as a field trip a couple of times. Ferry schedules are on http://www.threeforts.com/sched.html. A trail from Fort Delaware allows views (somewhat distant – take a scope) of the heronry. The yellow-crowns are not in the main heronry – they are on the east side of the island just north of the Fort. Check out the State Park website for Fort Delaware SP.

Returning back westwards along Clinton Street, go straight through the lights and, at the edge of town, scan Dragon Run Marsh again on your right. Although heavy with aquatic vegetation, the few open pools can be good for Least Bittern and other herons, a variety of ducks; King Rail and Sora have been reported along the edge. Another large pool, this one without the spatterdock, “Swan Pond” on the south side of the road, can be accessed by parking a few hundred yards further on and scrambling up the muddy bank. However, a better view of the pond is obtained by going farther west along Cox Neck Road looking carefully for a concealed dirt trail on the left. Pull into here and park at the first corner. Take a scope and walk the trail for a hundred yards then drop down to a concealed (and probably illegal) boat launch. A good view of 80% of the pond can be scanned. If no fishermen are in boats, there may be a variety of ducks, coot, moorhen and p-b grebes; however since the Mute Swans moved in (there are now about two dozen), the other waterfowl have been reduced considerably.

Return to Cox Neck Road. Farther to the west is a dirt road access to the C&D Canal Wildlife Area which leads to the canal through small trees and scrubby brush with lots of thrashers, towhees and, in summer, Yellow-breasted Chat amongst other warblers. Drivable tracks parallel the canal all the way to the St George’s Bridges. Bald Eagle, Osprey, cormorants, and gulls are attracted by the water while passerines occupy the bushes.

Even further west along Cox Neck Road is Gunning Bedford School. Avoiding school times, you can walk a delightful little trail behind the school which meanders though mixed woodland and overlooks a marshy feeder stream for Dragon Run. Excellent for migrants.

Return to Cox Neck Road and drive back into town, taking a right at the light. You’ll pass Wiso’s Crabs – quality unknown, worth a try if you’re into crustaceans – pass over the little canal and take an immediate left into Fort Dupont. A strange place indeed, with leftover military buildings from WWII dotted throughout, some converted into medical places, Government surplus stores, National Guard, others left to go to rack and ruin. Not much here birdwise but good close-ups of Cattle Egrets and Fish Crows can be had. In the far southeast corner (opposite from where you entered) is the entrance to Fort Dupont State Park. A fee or permit is needed May 1 through October 31 payable through an ‘honesty box’ system – your car is likely to be checked.
This small riverside park has a small mixed woodland surrounded by the Delaware River on one side, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on another, Fort Dupont lands on the remaining two sides. The wood is the closest to the river for some distance north or south and thus has potential as a compact migrant trap. As with all such locations, you can be lucky and you can be frustrated! First, check out the grassy area north of the parking lot for sparrows etc. Scope the river if you haven’t done so already. Trails lead from the parking area either between the wood and the river or through the woods. It’s relatively easy to work out a loop walk which covers most of the park and most of the habitats available. The woods contain the expected woodpeckers, robins and ‘garden birds’, Great Horned Owl and accipiters. All of the eastern warblers have been recorded here; sometimes the place can be jumping, other times dead; either way, it’s a very nice small walk and there’s always action somewhere on the river. A peculiarity is the extensive ‘observation deck’ in the woods. I guess it was just put up to cover another unsightly concrete structure (or to use up excess budget at the end of the year), but it is only five feet high, has virtually nowhere to ‘observe’ and has handicapped (wheelchair) access, though anyone in such a device has to negotiate a quarter mile of muddy track to get there! Oh, well.

Another part of the park, on the other (south) side of the Reedy Point Bridge, has a little conference building – the Grassdale Center. Parking in the lot here allows you to walk around some trails leading to wetland areas or to the Canal. A good and quiet(ish) area for Willow Flycatcher, Marsh Wren and sparrows.

All of these areas are good for a short visit if you have limited time. There is little habitat for shorebirds. You need to head south on Rt 9 over Reedy Point Bridge for those. This 1.75 mile masterpiece of post neo-Army Corps of Engineers design leads into another land, another world indeed. Quaintly known by the locals as “South of the Canal”, this is a sparsely populated area where the means of transport is confined to red pick-up trucks, and people eat muskrat burgers. Birding here can be excellent but is outside the scope of this note; a guide to birding this area (and tips for survival) will be the subject of a future travelogue.