U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Bombay Hook
National Wildlife Refuge
Auto Tour
Welcome to Bombay Hook National
Wildlife Refuge, haven for wildlife
and nature lovers seeking to study,
photograph, and simply enjoy the
environment at its scenic and
protected best. This refuge is
managed primarily for migrating
and wintering ducks, geese,
shorebirds, and other migratory
birds, including the southern bald
eagle and peregrine falcon. It is also
managed to provide a diverse group
of habitats: freshwater, brackish and
salt marsh, bay, grassland, cropland
and forest which encourages plant
and animal diversity.
Recorded history of the area began
in 1679 when the Indian Machacksett,
Chief Sachem of Kahansink, sold to
Dutch settlers some marshland called
“Boompies Hoock” (which means tree
thicket or point of trees in German)
for a price of…one gun, fower hands
full of powder, three Mats coats, one
anckor of Liquors and one Kittle…”
The Great Storm of 1878 took out
many of the trees in the marsh. At
low tide one can still see the stumps.
The settlers that followed cut salt hay,
trapped muskrats and terrapins,
hunted waterfowl, and plied the tidal
streams for fish, crabs, and oysters.
History
Tour Stop 1
This brochure
corresponds with
the numbered
signs along the
auto tour route.
The ability to manipulate water levels
in these pools is the key to creating
necessary habitats. Pool levels are
maintained by the use of water
control structures with stoplogs. In
the spring, excess water in the pool is
released to the salt marsh to create
mudflats which provide a food source
for wading birds and shorebirds.
During the summer, emergent plants
like wild millet, three-square bulrush,
cattail, pond weed, wigeon grass, and
wild rice thrive and produce seed in
the shallow waters and exposed pool
margins. Low pool levels that favor
the growth of waterfowl foods also
favor invertebrate species that are a
food source for shorebirds.
Fall rains permit pool water levels to
shallowly flood the seed-bearing
plants. This flooding provides suitable