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The gates of Prime Hook NWR are open every day of the year from 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset.
Please note: Parts of Fowler Beach, including the bay beach, dunes, and back-barrier portions, are closed to visitors from March 1 through September 30, 2026.
The administrative office is open M-F, 8am-4:30pm. The Hooked on Nature Store typically is open M-F, 9am-4pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 11am-3pm, or when the OPEN flag is flying. Both are closed on federal holidays.
Questions? Contact us at 302-684-8419.
We're Getting Our Act Together and Taking It on the Road!
Come meet & talk with members of the Friends as we reach out to the community at the following events:
Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Open House/Nest Fest 2026
Saturday, September 19, 9am to 3pm
Newark, DE
AND
University of Delaware Coast Day 2026
Sunday, October 4, 9am to 3pm
Lewes, DE
Friends of Prime Hook 2026 Nature Photography Contest
Our Contest Is Back!
And, we're now accepting submissions! Click here for the deets - we'd love to see your photos!
First Saturday Guided Bird Walks with Sussex Bird Club
2026: October 3, November 7, December 5
2027: January 2, February 6
NOTE: Inclement weather cancels this event.
Meet at 8am in the parking lot at the end of Turkle Pond Road.
Join members of the Sussex Bird Club monthly on the first Saturday for a 90+ minute guided bird walk on the Dike and Boardwalk Trails. For your comfort, insect repellant, long pants, and long sleeves are appropriate. The group leaders will have a scope for long-distance viewing, but feel free to bring your own scope, binoculars, and camera.
No registration is required.
Fall Field Trips*
Weather Permitting
Meet at: PHNWR Visitor Contact Station
September
Tuesday, September 8, 8am: Birds! Walk to look for fall migrants along Deep Branch Road (some carpooling may be required)
Leaders: Nancy Cunningham & Carol Knapp
Tuesday, September 15, 8am: Birds! Walk to look for fall migrants along Deep Branch Road (some carpooling may be required)
Leaders: Nancy Cunningham & Carol Knapp
*Throughout November, December, January, and February, we will be scheduling walks and drives throughout the Refuge in search of snow geese, waterfowl, owls - or even, just relaxing trail walks! Visit our Events page often for updates as these are scheduled.
Hawk Watch "Sit" at Fleetwood Pond
Sunday, September 20 (rain date: September 27), 11a to ?
Meet at: Fleetwood Pond Parking Lot
Join us to see what might fly through this migration season - waterfowl? Herons? Passerines...?
First State Fun Day at the Refuge
Saturday, September 26, 10am to 3pm
Join us for a day of famly fun at the Refuge! Details to follow as they become available - check back often!
Friends of Prime Hook NWR Nature Book Club
Wednesday, October 7, 6:30pm, PHNWR Visitor Contact Station, Multipurpose Room
The Friends of Prime Hook NWR Nature Book Club meets every 6 weeks on Wednesday evening, from 6:30pm till 8pm, to discuss the group's latest selection. A list of upcoming dates and selections can be found here.
Join us in October to discuss The Ride of Her Life, Elizabeth Letts' biography of folk hero Annie Wilkins. Annie's story takes place in the early 1950s, when America was still mostly composed of cities, small towns, and vast open country. Destitute following the loss of her Maine farm, Annie is given only two years to live by a physician who diagnosed her with lung disease. With only a few possessions and her horse and dog, Annie sets out to fulfill a lifelong wish to see the Pacific Ocean.
Registration is required; click the button below to register.
Presentation: Hawk Migration on the Northeast Corridor
Sunday, October 11, 1pm to 3pm
PHNWR Visitor Contact Station, Multipurpose Room
Did you ever wonder just how, when, and why the hawk migration occurs along the northeast corridor? Or wonder just how the counters at the hawk watches identify the raptors that pass overhead? Join John Knapp, a past hawk watch counter at Raccoon Ridge, NJ, to learn the tricks of the trade (so to speak).
Registration is requested; click the button below to register.
Friends of Prime Hook 2026 Nature Photography Contest
Reception and Awards Presentation
Sunday, October 24, 2pm to 4pm
Prime Hook NWR, Multipurpose Room
Join us at the Award Reception to view the photos submitted for our 2026 contest, meet some of the photographers, and be on hand for the announcement of the winners! You can also cast your ballot for the People's Choice Award (voting remains open through December 13.)
Registration is requested; click the button below to register.
A Walk to the Morris Cemetery (+Owls!)
Friday, October 30, 6pm to 8pm
Meet at: Parking Lot at the start of the Boardwalk Trail
Join Volunteers Kathy Byrnes and Carol Knapp for a (battery-powered) lantern walk along the Boardwalk Trail to the Morris Cemetery and discover just how is buried here as well as some local history of the family. If we are lucky, an owl or two will make themselves known, as well. Lanterns and trail lights will be provided; participants are asked to bring camp chairs so they can relax comfortably while we tell our tales.
Registration is requested; click the button below to register.
Fowler Beach Clean-up
Friday, November 6 (rain date: Saturday, November 7)
9am to 11am
Meet at: The fishing parking lot end of Fowler Beach Road
This is our semi-annual clean-up along the length of Fowler Beach Road. Efforts this past spring yielded a whopping 18 bags of trash! We hope to collect less this time, meaning that the public has stopped throwing their lunch remains (adn more!) out their car windows. The Friends will provide road signs (alerting drivers to the presence of the clean-up crew), safety vests, gloves, long-handled trash pickers, and trash bags. We also will remove all trash collected.
Registration is requested; click on the button below to register.
More Fall Field Trips
Weather Permitting
Meet at: the fishing parking lot end of Fowler Beach Road
November
Sunday, November 22, 2pm to 6pm: Walk to Fowler Beach to look for buntings, larks, sparrows, waterfowl, and raptors, AND spend the late afternoon on Fowler Beach Road to look/listen for short-eared owls.
Leaders: Nancy Cunningham & Carol Knapp
Sunday, November 29, 2pm to 6pm.: Walk to Fowler Beach to look for buntings, larks, sparrows, waterfowl, and raptors, AND spend the late afternoon on Fowler Beach Road to look/listen for short-eared owls.
Leaders: Nancy Cunningham & Randy Fisher
Holiday Shopping Event!
Hooked on Nature Book & Gift Store*
(Located at the PHNWR Visitor Contact Station; click here to read more about the Store)
Friday through Sunday, December 11 through December 13
AND
Saturday & Sunday, December 19 and December 20
During store hours, all dates
Do some of your holiday shopping at the Friends' Hooked on Nature stores on these dates, and enjoy some holiday savings! All visitors will receive a 10% discount; members of the Friends receive a 15% discount. There is a great variety of items perfect for gifting - come on by! (Pro Tip: Join the Friends while you're at the store, so you can receive that 15%!)
*The Friends of Prime Hook NWR is a nonprofit, volunteer organization. Store profits are used to support the Refuge.
Close Out 2026 at Prime Hook Refuge
Thursday, December 31, 3pm to 6pm
Weather permitting
Meet at: PHNWR Visitor Contact Station
Enjoy a late-afternoon "end of year" walk on the Boardwalk and Dike Trails. Close out the year enjoying the beauty and peacefulness of Prime Hook.
New Year Bird Walk at Prime Hook
Sunday, January 3, 9am to 4pm
Weather permitting
Meet at: PHNWR Visitor Contact Station
Join us to walk (or drive) through Prime Hook to start (or continue) your 2027 list. Or just enjoy the sights and sounds the day has to offer - no list required!
Let's Paint Nature (by Number) at Prime Hook
Monday, January 18, 3pm to 6pm
AND
Thursday, February 11, 3pm to 6pm
PHNWR Visitor Contact Station, Multipurpose Room
After a short walk at the Refuge, let's all go inside to the multipurpose room and have a fun evneing doing a "paint by number" nature scene. We'll supply the hot chocolate or coffee; you supply the talk and the talent! A donation of $10 is requested - but NOT required - to help with the cost of the paint kit.
Registration is required; click on the button below to register.
Presentation: The Return of the Raven
Sunday, February 7, 2pm to 4pm
(Weather date: Saturday, February 20)
PHNWR Visitor Contact Station, Multipurpose Room
Join Rick Radis, New Jersey Audubon Field Trip leader - and mentor, across the years, to many birders! - to learn about one of the most (maybe even the most) intelligent birds: the raven, Corvus Corax, the trickster.
The common raven, Corvus corax, has the widest distribution of any of the Corvidae - the family that includes jays, crows, nutcrackers, magpies, and birds such as rooks, jackdaws, and choughs. It is the largest and heaviest of the passerines (perching birds), and the smartest. This presentation will cover the historic status of the common raven in eastern North America from the late 1880s, its remarkable return in the 1990s, and its present status as a nesting species in many (often surprising) areas of NJ and the eastern states. This program promises to be entertaining as well as educational.
Rick Radis first watched birds as a child on family trips to Cape May and remembers early trips to the old heron rookery in Stone Harbor. he is an editor, writer, and environmental consultant who has worked on land and water preservation and as an endangered species specialist since the late 1970s. He is a past editor of NJ Birds, NJ Audubon Magazine, and many other conservation publications. His writing, editorials, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and many other national and regional publications.
Registration is required; click the button below to register.
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