|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
Built around 1890, Port Mahon once served as a hub of port activity in the Delaware Bayshores area, with a blacksmith shop, a general store and lighthouse. It evokes a time when supplies arrived yearly on horse-drawn carts from the nearby community of Little Creek.
Port Mahon also boasts an extraordinary natural history. Sitting at the mouth of the Mahon River along the central shoreline of the Delaware Bay, the beaches, saltmarshes and tidal creeks of Port Mahon provide a unique mosaic of habitats, especially during spring when millions of migratory birds stop to rest and refuel just as the world's largest population of horseshoe crabs begins spawning on the beaches.
The Port Mahon Preserve represents a cooperative effort between the Conservancy's Delaware and New Jersey chapters to conserve the most significant elements of biodiversity associated with the habitats in and around the Delaware Bay. While the Conservancy currently owns and manages the Port Mahon Preserve, it is in the process of conveying approximately 280 acres to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service. Once ownership is transferred, that portion of the preserve will be managed as part of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
Size
341 acres
Location
Kent County. Located within boundaries of Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent to the State of Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Little Creek Wildlife Area.
What's At Stake?
The saltmarshes of Port Mahon are dominated by cordgrass and salt grass. In the higher areas of the preserve, marsh elder and groundsel bush create a shrubby habitat with a variety of diverse vegetation.
Port Mahon is a crucial resting and feeding stop for red knots, ruddy turnstones, sandpipers, dowitchers, sanderlings, dunlins, plovers, gulls, yellowlegs and other species migrating north from their wintering grounds. A variety of geese and ducks also travel through Port Mahon in high concentrations, including Canada geese, snow geese, mallard, black duck, northern pintail and green-winged teal. The preserve provides important nesting, breeding and wintering habitat for short-eared owl, northern harrier, rough-legged hawk and five species of rails. The landscape of Port Mahon also provides a temporary or permanent home for numerous species of fish and amphibians.
Threats
Climate change; destruction of shorebird/horseshoe crab habitat; sea-level rise; invasive species.
Milestones
Land making up the preserve was donated by the Delmarva Power Company (now known as Connectiv) in 1990.
Action
Managed for public uses including bird watching and nature study. The site also provides information about changes in environmental conditions resulting from sea level rise. The Conservancy is in the process of transferring ownership of approximately 280 acres to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Learn More
Visiting
This preserve is open to public use along County Road 89, where a shorebird observation platform located on the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife property can be accessed during the spring. In fall and winter, many ducks and other waterfowl can be observed from the road. There is no public access into the marsh.
Directions
From Dover, take Route 8 east to its end at Route 9. Follow Route 9 south toward Little Creek. Turn left on Port Mahon Road (County Route 89) and follow it to the end. You will see the preserve sign on your left as you round a sharp left turn near a fishing bait shop.
Please print this bird list to use when you visit our preserve.
Nature picture credits (left to right): Photo © Richard Szutenbach (Ruddy Turnstones at Port Mahon); Photo © Terri Tipping (horseshoe crabs).
Join The Nature Conservancy on