USFWS · Delaware

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

The Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge is a 15,978-acre (64.66 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located along the eastern coast of Kent County, Delaware, United States, on Delaware Bay. It was established on March 16, 1937, as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory and wintering waterfowl along the Atlantic Flyway. The Refuge was purchased from local land owners with federal duck stamp funds.

From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

National Wildlife Refuge 15,472 acres USFWS DE

Official page at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ↗

Photo by Jamie Richie, in the public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.

1 fire
active

Becky Taylor Branch Rx (prescribed burn) · 50 mi from the center · 46 acres

Interagency incident data as of 2026-11-01

Incident details ↓

Facts

Where each comes from ↓

Designation	National Wildlife Refuge
Managed by	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
State	Delaware
Size	15,472 acres
FWS region	Region 5
Center point	39.25° N, 75.45° W
Night sky	About as dark as the ground gets (Black Marble reading 16)

Boundary map

6 outlines

Boundary, simplified to about 0.005 degrees

The outline is the agency boundary simplified for display, so small parcels and inholdings may not show. The agency page has the authoritative map.

Weather by month

NOAA climate normals →

The line is the average temperature and the bars are average precipitation at Dover, 8 miles from the center point at 30 feet, station USC00072730 in the NOAA monthly climate normals for 1991 to 2020. Precipitation totals about 48 inches a year. The dotted line is average snowfall, about 13 inches a year on the same inches scale.

Large units span more than one climate. The station stands in for the center point, and the outer parts of the boundary can be warmer or colder.

Fire nearby

Within 50 miles · as of 2026-11-01

Prescribed
Becky Taylor Branch Rx
50 mi from the center point · 46 acres

Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge, and is measured from the center of a boundary that may be many miles across. Check the agency page for closures.

Explore

Nearby on the other atlases

National Register listings within 15 miles · 135 in all · Register Atlas

under 0.1 mi
Allee House ↗Dutch Neck Crossroads, DE
0.2 mi
Voshell, John M., House ↗Smyrna, DE
0.5 mi
Port Mahon Lighthouse ↗Little Creek, DE
0.7 mi
Savin--Wilson House ↗Smyrna, DE
0.9 mi
Cummins, Timothy, House ↗Smyrna, DE
0.9 mi
Octagonal Schoolhouse ↗Cowgill's Corner, DE
1.2 mi
Sutton, Thomas, House ↗Woodland Beach, DE
1.3 mi
Old Stone Tavern ↗Little Creek, DE

Landmarks are listed first, then by distance from the boundary.

Guidebooks for the Mid-Atlantic

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Best Hikes of the Appalachian Trail
Matt Willen, 2016
Find at Bookshop.org
Rail-trails mid-Atlantic
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org
Scenic Routes and Byways Middle Atlantic
Randi Minetor and Nic Minetor, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

How big is Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge?

15,472 acres.

Source: How acreage is computed

Who manages Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

What state is Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in?

Delaware.

Source: How states are assigned

How do I get to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge?

A point inside the boundary is at 39.252° N, 75.448° W. The official page carries directions and the office address.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Is there a fire near Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge right now?

1 active incident within 50 miles as of 2026-11-01, the nearest Becky Taylor Branch Rx at 50 miles. Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge.

Source: Fire nearby

Are there historic places near Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge?

The National Register has 135 listings within 15 miles, including Allee House and Voshell, John M., House.

Source: Register Atlas

Sources

Boundary, name: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge boundary layer.
States and territories: computed by intersecting the boundary with Census state polygons and coarse outlines of the territories and outlying islands. A place is listed when it holds at least one percent of the area. A boundary that touches no outline is listed under the nearest one.
Acreage: geodesic area of the published polygon. The agency’s official acreage can differ where the boundary includes water, easements or inholdings.
Photograph: the image Wikidata records for this refuge (Q4940563), the item linked to its Wikipedia article. Author and license come from the file page on Wikimedia Commons.
Description: Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. The article was accepted because its title contains this unit’s name.
Campgrounds: the Campsite Atlas index of federal campgrounds, matched to this boundary at build time.
Night sky: NASA Black Marble (VIIRS, 2016 composite) sampled at zoom 6 around the center point.
Weather, alerts, air quality, river flow and earthquakes load live in your browser from NWS, AirNow, USGS and iNaturalist when you open the page.