Another Hike, This Time Under Cloudy Skies , At The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
I planned to watch the sunrise at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday during my short visit to Philadelphia last weekend. I drove the few miles from the Hilton Embassy Suites hotel and arrived shortly before the sunrise at 6;30 a.m. Unfortunately, the skies were overcast and I knew I wouldn’t see the sunrise. 
There were only a few cars in the parking lot as I began my hike on the Wetland Loop Trail again. I hiked this trail the previous afternoon. 
The bare tree and withered vegetation showed no signs of Spring which was only a few weeks away. I had hoped some of the trees would have buds. 
The low streaky clouds made for a somber but pretty scene over the impoundment pound. The scene reminded me of an old jigsaw puzzle I got from my grandfather’s house when I was a child.
It was a cool morning with temperatures in the 40’s but the ponds were not frozen,
and a few flocks Canada geese,
and northern shoveler ducks were on the waters. This is a colorful male,
.
A few ring-billed seagulls few overhead,
as I walked out on the boardwalk that crossed the pond.
As I pointed out in my previous blog the refuge is adjacent to the Philadelphia International Airport and busy Interstate highway 95 so, although it looked like a tranquil scene the noise from the airport and highway could be heard along with the honking of the Canada geese.
Small flocks of the geese were continually flying over the pond where the spend the nights for safety. 
I continued along the trail which followed Darby Creek for a short distance. Darby Creek is the source of the freshwater tidal marsh the largest remaining in Pennsylvania. The creek was much lower than the previous afternoon indicating it was low tide. 
There wasn’t much bird activity, but I was seeing a lot of people walking on the trail now.
As I continued my hike I heard the calls of the male red winged blackbirds in the reeds along the pond,
I also saw some song sparrows,
mourning doves,
and this downy woodpecker.
The bare branches of the ancient trees along the trail stood out in the overcast skies. 
I saw a few ring necked ducks,
mallard ducks,and 
a pair of American coots on the pond. I had seen flocks of thousands of these birds on my recent visit to the Florida Everglades. 
There were also a few rusty blackbirds
and an invasive European starling in the branches along the trail, 
I walked past the observation tower, and 
when I got to boardwalk that goes into the tidal march I followed it.
The low tide exposed the mud and debris in the marsh. Large flocks of red winged blackbirds were feeding in the mud, on what, I am not sure. 
As I did the day before I followed the Tinicum Marsh Trail and Turkey Foot Trails that looped through the marsh. I looked for the mink I saw in the Darby Creek the previous afternoon, but it wasn’t there. 
In fact there were few birds or other wildlife active in the marsh.
The trail took me near the highway and then back to the Wetland Loop Trail.The trail then took me back along the impoundment pond,
then back to Interstate 95. 
As I noted earlier it wasn’t a quiet hike because of the motor vehicle traffic and the jet airplanes taking off from the airport on the other side of the highway. 
The trail made a loop through some more mature woodlands before again approaching the pond. The clouds began to dissipate and blue skies appeared near the northern horizon.
There were now a lot more people on the trail some tuning, walking their dogs or just taking a leisurely stroll. Many of the walkers were birders with large zoom lens camera and binoculars. I hoped they had more luck then me because it was a very quiet hike and I saw a lot fewer species of birds than on my hike a couple of weeks ago. 
I did see a few golden crowned kinglets,
a common grackle, and 
this Carolina wren singing it’s cheerful song as the sun peeked through the clouds.
One of the few signs of Spring I saw on my hike were the buds on the silver maple trees. 
I also saw this gray squirrel gathering nesting material, 
as it scampered acrobatically up a tree, another sign of Spring and a new generation of squirrels in the refuge.
I continued in the woodlands on the last mile of my five mile hike. I saw more people and a lot of birders and photographers walking under the now partly sunny skies. 
As the previous day I took the side trial back back to the pond and the Boardwalk Trail.
Across the lake on one of the observation boardwalks I saw this group of birders or photographers. I hoped they were having better luck than me. I was hoping to see a lot more birds on my hike. 
I came to the boardwalk that crossed the lake. Here I found a dozen of folks with cameras and binoculars. However, there weren’t many birds to see, just. the Canada geese and northern shoveler ducks I had seen earlier, and a few pretty pentail ducks on the pond. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the birds I saw on my five mile hike in wildlife refuge. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge birds March 1 2025. 
It was now after 10 a.m. and I had to check out of my hotel. I was only in the city for one night. I finished my five mile hike as a steady stream of people now walked past me on the trail, including many famines with young children. It was good to see so many people enjoying this beautiful refuge. All of my visits to The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge have been in February, expect this one since it was the 1st day of March. Hopefully, when I visit again, I’ll be sharing photos of trees with leaves and flowers . I believe it will be a beautiful place to visit in the Spring. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from my five mile hike in refuge. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge March 1 2025. 
“Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the ‘the game belongs to the people.’ So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.” Theodore Roosevelt
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