The refuge entrance and exit bridges are good spots to see this interesting behavior. Fiddler crabs swarm across the salt marsh mud flats at low tide. Watch for them as you walk along the refuge's Eco-Trail boardwalk. Southbound shorebirds rest and feed here, as migration begins. Some songbirds, having raised a first brood in the spring, are now raising a second brood.
Fireflies blink their lights on and off by means of a bioluminescent belly.
Watch for colorful ladybugs, our field and garden helpers. Eastern kingbirds perch on tall flower stems or branches. Forsythe Refuge's Brigantine and Barnegat Divisions were originally two distinct refuges, established in 1939 and 1967, respectively, to protect tidal wetland and shallow bay habitat for migratory water birds. In 1984 they were combined under the Edwin B. Forsythe name, in honor of the late conservationist congressman from New Jersey. The refuge's location in one of the Atlantic Flyway's most active flight paths makes it an important link in the vast network of national wildlife refuges administered nationwide by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.