Date: 5/6/25 4:30 pm From: Douglas Vogus <vogeye...> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Ottawa N.W.R. Monthly Census
MAY 04, 2025 - OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE MONTHLY CENSUS. ROUTES: East Side, West Side, MS2, Western Prairies & Henry Marsh in the morning; Wildlife Drive in the afternoon (except where closed for eagle nesting). OBS. EAST: Bob Bartolotta, Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Al & Betty Schlecht. OBS. WEST: Jennifer Kuehn, Donna Kuhn, David & Kim Myles, George Novosel, Chris Pierce. OBS. MS2, WESTERN PRAIRIES & HENRY MARSH: Douglas W. Vogus. OBS. WILDLIFE DRIVE: Bob Bartolotta, Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Douglas W. Vogus. TIME: 7:25am - 11:45am; 1:10pm - 4:00pm TIME AFIELD: 7:10 TEMP.: 46F ~ 51F COND.: Rain ended at start of census; briefly cloudy then turning to misty rain, to light rain, then steady rain; winds northeast at 10-20mph, at times gusting to 25mph; absolutely brutal birding conditions with steady winds and blowing rain; overcast with rain in the afternoon; high water throughout the refuge - all ditches, canals, and Crane Creek filled due to northeast winds; Lake Erie, and even Crane Creek floodplain, had whitecaps. None but the brave!
I. MAMMALS: 6 SPECIES, 31 TOTAL.
1. Eastern Cottontail - 12 2. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 8 3. Common Muskrat - 3 4. Common Raccoon - 2 5. American Mink - 1 6. White-tailed Deer - 5
II. BIRDS: 99 SPECIES, (LOWEST MAY TOTAL SINCE 05/2010 - 94 SPECIES), 3,650 TOTAL.
1. Canada Goose - 643 2. Trumpeter Swan - 79 (one with yellow neckband: 1A2) 3. Wood Duck - 11 4. Blue-winged Teal - 29 5. Northern Shoveler - 6 6. Gadwall - 21 7. American Wigeon - 9 8. American Black Duck - 3 9. Mallard - 109 10. Green-winged Teal - 33 11. Hooded Merganser - 1 (male in Pool 9 East on Wildlife Drive) 12. Pied-billed Grebe - 4 13. Mourning Dove - 10 14. Sora - 4 (D. Vogus - one seen and three calling in MS2) 15. Common Gallinule - 6 16. American Coot - 3 (MS4 on the Wildlife Drive) 17. Sandhill Crane - 40 (two separate newly hatched young - one along east end dike of MS7 and one along east end dike of MS2) 18. Black-necked Stilt - 5 (D. Vogus - three at Henry Marsh and a pair that flew in from the southwest over the Stange Prairie observation platform - Tied Census High from 07/2024 & 08/2024) 19. Black-bellied Plover - 1 (D. Kuhn/G. Novosel Group on West Side) 20. Killdeer - 21 (one nest with 4 eggs found by D. Vogus at the turnaround at the end of Lindsey-Limestone Rd.) 21. Dunlin - 352 (D. Kuhn/G. Novosel Group on West Side) 22. Least Sandpiper - 6 (one flock in flight looking for dry land at west end of MS7 on Wildlife Drive) 23. Wilson's Snipe - 10 24. Spotted Sandpiper - 22 25. Solitary Sandpiper - 2 26. Greater Yellowlegs - 2 27. Lesser Yellowlegs - 12 28. Ring-billed Gull - 4 29. American Herring Gull - 2 30. Caspian Tern - 2 31. Black Tern - 2 (D. Kuhn/G. Novosel Group on West Side - First Record since 08/2012) 32. Common Tern - 6 33. Double-crested Cormorant - 82 34. American White Pelican - 82 35. Snowy Egret - 6 36. Green Heron - 1 (D. Vogus - in ditch along Ottawa-Lucas Rd. at 7:35am) 37. Great Egret - 136 38. Great Blue Heron - 46 39. Turkey Vulture - 3 40. Bald Eagle - 42 (25 adult,14 immature,3 juvenile in one nest) 41. Red-tailed Hawk - 3 42. Red-headed Woodpecker - 1 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 43. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 44. Downy Woodpecker - 1 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 45. Hairy Woodpecker - 1 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 46. Northern Flicker - 6 47. American Kestrel - 2 48. Great Crested Flycatcher - 2 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 49. Eastern Kingbird - 10 50. Eastern Phoebe - 2 51. Warbling Vireo - 5 52. Blue Jay - 11 53. Black-capped Chickadee - 2 54. Tufted Titmouse - 2 55. Horned Lark - 2 (D. Vogus - one along Krause Rd. and J. Reyda & D. Vogus - one along Stange Rd.) 56. Tree Swallow - 689 57. Purple Martin - 32 58. Barn Swallow - 26 59. Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 19 60. Brown Creeper - 1 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 61. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 3 62. Carolina Wren - 1 (D. Vogus along Ottawa-Lucas Rd.) 63. Northern House Wren - 12 64. Marsh Wren - 8 (D. Vogus - seven in MS2 and one in the D. Kuhn/G. Novosel Group) 65. Gray Catbird - 16 66. European Starling - 27 67. Hermit Thrush - 2 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 68. American Robin - 43 69. House Sparrow - 9 70. American Goldfinch - 18 71. Field Sparrow - 3 (J. Reyda Group on East Side) 72. Dark-eyed Junco - 1 (D. Vogus at end of Stange Rd.) 73. White-crowned Sparrow - 12 74. White-throated Sparrow - 40 75. Savannah Sparrow - 1 (D. Vogus - Grimm Prairie) 76. Song Sparrow - 23 77. Lincoln's Sparrow - 3 (two for D. Vogus and one for D. & K. Myles) 78. Swamp Sparrow - 10 79. Eastern Meadowlark - 2 (D. Vogus - Grimm Prairie) 80. Orchard Oriole - 5 (J. Reyda Group on East Side) 81. Baltimore Oriole - 7 82. Red-winged Blackbird - 483 83. Brown-headed Cowbird - 9 84. Rusty Blackbird - 1 (J. Reyda Group on East Side) 85. Common Grackle - 35 86. Northern Waterthrush - 11 (Tied Census High from 05/2023) 87. Prothonotary Warbler - 1 (D. Vogus - Henry Marsh) 88. Common Yellowthroat - 17 89. Cape May Warbler - 1 (D. Vogus - Henry Marsh) 90. Northern Parula - 2 (D. & K. Myles - West Side) 91. Yellow Warbler - 30 (a total of 301 were tallied last May!) 92. Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1 (J. Reyda Group on East Side) 93. Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 94. Palm Warbler - 17 95. Pine Warbler - 1 (D. & K. Myles on West Side) 96. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 81 97. Summer Tanager - 1 (first-year male found and photographed at East Side maintenance yard by Al & Betty Schlecht) 98. Northern Cardinal - 19 99. Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 2 (D. & K. Myles on West Side)
??. Unidentified Duck Species - 4 ??. Unidentified Shorebird Species - 1 ??. Unidentified Sparrow Species - 6 ??. Unidentified Warbler Species - 2
III. REPTILES: 2 SPECIES, (1 DEAD), 1 TOTAL.
1. Midland Painted Turtle - 1
X. Northern Water Snake - 1 (dead) (found by D. Vogus along Crane Creek just east of Rt. 2)
IV. AMPHIBIANS: 1 SPECIES, (1 SPECIES NEW TO CENSUS), 1 TOTAL.
1. Western Chorus Frog - 1 (heard by B. Schlecht on East Side - New Amphibian Species on Census - currently at 7 Amphibians since 04/07/2002)
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: <listowner...>
