Refuge Location
13950 Dawson Beach Rd.
Woodbridge, VA 22191

Headquarters Office
12638 Darby Brooke Ct.
Woodbridge, VA 22192
(703) 490-4979

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Wildlife & Habitat

Refuge Bird List (PDF 1269Kb)

What Happend to the Osprey Nest? Click the blue text to learn more.

Wetland habitats cover about 50 percent of the refuge, and include wet meadows, bottomland hardwoods, open freshwater marsh, and tidally influenced marshes and streams. About 20 percent of the unit is upland meadows, with the remaining vegetated areas consisting of mature or second growth forest. The plant diversity of this refuge is outstanding in that over 650 plant species are known to be present.

The variety of woodland, wetland, and grassland habitats on the Refuge provides a high diversity of wildlife species. The over 230 species of birds have been observed on the Refuge. The meadows along the northern boundary of the area provide particularly high quality foraging habitat for raptor species, such as the Red-tailed Hawk and American Kestrel, while the meadows southwest of the parking area are important foraging habitat for the Northern Harrier during the winter months.

Refuge grasslands also provide nesting and wintering habitat for many species. The grasslands are dominated by Eastern Gamma grass. Several sparrow and thrush species are commonly seen on the refuge throughout the year.  Grassland breeding birds arrive at the end of April to set up territories.  Waves of migrating songbirds, especially warblers, vireos, thrushes, and fly catchers pass through in May and again in late summer and early fall. Butterflies and other flying insects, like dragonflies, can be seen throughout the grasslands during the summer months

The wetlands provide diverse habitats for a number of waterbirds and waterfowl, including the American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Wood Duck, and Belted Kingfisher. The mature upland forests along Marumsco Creek, and bottomland forests along a number of the sloughs, provide important habitat for a number of migrant land birds and resident species, such as the Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Cardinal, Winter Wren, Swamp Sparrow, and Hermit Thrush.

Forty-eight mammals are known or expected to occur in Prince William County. Many would also be expected to occur on the refuge. River otter, White-tailed deer, Eastern cottontail, Red fox, Beaver, Squirrels, and Meadow voles, are typically found.

Several species of amphibians and reptiles are known or expected to occur in Prince William County.  Spring peeper, Green frog, Pickerel frog, and Spotted salamanders are common amphibians associated with the wetland habitats throughout the refuge for either breeding or year-round residence. Painted turtles, Mud turtles, and Snapping turtles are abundant aquatic turtles associated with the ponds and sloughs, while the Eastern box turtles are associated with terrestrial habitats. Northern water snakes are common in the marshes and creeks, while the Black rat snake is associated with forested habitats. The Black racer and Eastern garter snake are common snakes occurring in fields or edges. The Eastern worm snake, a secretive burrowing snake, and the Mole king snake, another burrower, have both been documented on the refuge.

Additional Wildlife Pictures taken on the Refuge