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Fall is the loudest season in Morris County if you know where to stand. Migrating birds move through New Jersey from September into November, the leaves come off and suddenly you can see into the woods, and the biting insects that make a July swamp walk miserable are gone.
Six places in the county are built for watching animals rather than just walking past them. Five of the six are free.
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
The big one. The refuge covers 7,853 acres in Morris County, with 3,660 of those acres managed as federally designated Wilderness, roughly 26 miles west of Manhattan. More than 244 species of birds have been recorded there, and it is an outstanding stopover for migrating waterfowl to rest and feed.
Go to the Wildlife Observation Center first. It has about a mile and a half of boardwalks and trails, and it has blinds, which is the part that matters. A blind is the difference between glimpsing a heron as it leaves and watching one fish for twenty minutes. If you want more ground, the Wilderness Area holds roughly eight and a half miles of hiking trails, along with the half mile Bockoven Trail and the short self guided Nature Detective Trail.
The Helen Fenske Visitor Center is at 32 Pleasant Plains Road and is open Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays from 10am to 4pm. The trails and the observation center do not keep those hours, so a closed visitor center is not a reason to skip the trip.
Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center, Chatham Township
The Morris County Park Commission runs its own way into the swamp at 247 Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township, and for families it is the better first visit. Two miles of flat trails and boardwalks cross swamp, marsh, meadow, pond and forest, so you get five habitats without a hill.
The trails are open sunrise to sunset and the visitor center runs 9am to 4pm. Inside there are live reptiles and insects, including a resident turtle, which buys you about fifteen minutes of warmth and interest before or after the walk. Frogs, migrating birds, butterflies, ferns, sedges, oaks, witch hazel and wildflowers are all on the regular list, and endangered and threatened species turn up here too.
The Raptor Trust, Millington
If you have never been, go. The Raptor Trust sits at 1390 White Bridge Road in Millington, in Long Hill Township, right beside the Great Swamp, and the self guided aviary trail is free.
About 50 resident birds live in large outdoor aviaries, birds that were injured badly enough that they cannot be released. That means hawks, eagles, falcons and owls, standing a few feet away, at eye level, in daylight. There is no other place in Morris County where you can do that.
From Labor Day to Memorial Day it is open 9am to 4pm, seven days a week, weather permitting. A few rules are worth knowing before you drive out: stay on the gravel paths and in the public areas, the rehabilitation areas are closed to visitors, groups need one adult for every five children, and dogs are not allowed anywhere on the property including the parking lot. Walk quietly. These are wild animals, not exhibits.
Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Area, Montville
Pyramid Mountain covers more than 1,600 acres at 472 Boonton Avenue in Montville, with over 19 miles of trails through forest, fields, wetlands and rock outcroppings. The visitor center is open 9am to 4pm and the trails run sunrise to sunset.
The headline attraction is geological rather than biological. Tripod Rock is a glacial erratic, a boulder dropped here by the Wisconsin Glacier more than 18,000 years ago and left balanced on three smaller stones. The Valhalla Views and Glacial Erratic routes are the two most worth your morning. Open ridgeline and wetland in the same park is a good combination in migration season, because you get both the birds moving overhead and the ones working the water.
Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, Jefferson Township
The county largest park, more than 3,500 acres at 955 Weldon Road in Jefferson Township, open sunrise to sunset. Headley Overlook is one of the highest points in Morris County, and 27 miles of multi use trails run through the property for hiking, off road cycling and horseback riding.
For wildlife specifically, head for the Saffin Pond area, which is the reservation fishing and bird watching spot. This is also the only park on this list where you can stay the night. The campground offers RV sites with electric and seasonal water, plus tent platforms and Adirondack shelters, and it runs April through November by reservation.
Black River Wildlife Management Area, Chester Township
The wild card, and the least manicured place on the list. Black River covers 3,020 acres in the northern part of Chester Township, state land acquired through the Green Acres program, and it follows the abandoned right of way of the old Chester Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The Patriot Path runs straight through it.
It is genuinely quiet and genuinely good for birds, but it is a working wildlife management area, not a park. It gets heavy use during hunting season. Check the current New Jersey Fish and Wildlife seasons before you go, wear blaze orange in the fall, and keep dogs leashed and close.
One practical note
The Park Commission properties and the two swamp sites all close at sunset rather than at a set clock time, which in late October means a little after 6pm and by late November closer to 4:30pm. Binoculars change these trips more than good boots do.
If you would rather walk than watch, we keep a full guide to the best hiking trails in Morris County and another to the waterfalls. And if you want the leaves rather than the animals, here is where to find fall foliage in Morris County.
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