Date: 11/4/24 4:50 pm From: Douglas Vogus <vogeye...> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Ottawa NWR Monthly Census
NOVEMBER 03, 2024 - OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE MONTHLY CENSUS. ROUTES: East Side, Fox Unit parking lot, West Side, MS6 and Western Prairies in the morning and Wildlife Drive in the afternoon. OBS. EAST & FOX UNIT: Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Al & Betty Schlecht. OBS. WEST: Susan Brauning, Jennifer Kuehn, Donna Kuhn, David & Kim Myles, Chris Pierce, Tony Szilagye, Tracy Wiczer. OBS. MS6 & WESTERN PRAIRIES: Douglas W. Vogus. OBS. WILDLIFE DRIVE: Bob Bartolotta, Claire Johnson, Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Douglas W. Vogus. TIME: 7:15am - 12:35pm; 1:30pm - 4:55pm TEMP.: 40F ~ 61F ~ 58F COND.: Brisk early with winds from the East; warming and breezy all morning with sunny skies; winds shifting to the Northeast in the afternoon with whitecaps on Lake Erie.
I. MAMMALS: 4 SPECIES, 33 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Woodchuck - 3 (Third November Record on Census) 2. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 15 3. Northern River Otter - 4 (observed by J. Reyda's East Side crew - family group "porpoising" across the marsh - Fifth Record on Census, Second November Record on Census & New Census High - previous was 1 on 11/2010, 02/2022, 04/2024 & 07/2024) 4. White-tailed Deer - 11 (4 bucks: 11-pt,8-pt,8-pt,8-pt,4 does,3 yearlings)
II. BIRDS: 83 SPECIES, 13,354 TOTAL. (Recorded since 03/02/1969)
1. Canada Goose - 844 2. Mute Swan - 11 3. Trumpeter Swan - 168 4. Tundra Swan - 213 5. Wood Duck - 104 6. Blue-winged Teal - 4 7. Northern Shoveler - 35 8. Gadwall - 2,211 9. American Wigeon - 152 10. American Black Duck - 26 11. Mallard - 755 12. Northern Pintail - 90 13. Green-winged Teal - 376 14. Ring-necked Duck - 21 15. Lesser Scaup - 39 16. Black Scoter - 4 (in Lake Erie in the afternoon off of the Ottawa fish gate to Metzger Marsh - Third Record on Census, Second November Record on Census & New Census High - previous was 2 on 11/06/1983 - First Record was of 1 on 05/07/1972 - because I knew you would ask!) 17. Bufflehead - 4 18. Hooded Merganser - 24 19. Red-breasted Merganser - 1 (female with the Black Scoter group) 20. Ruddy Duck - 20 21. Pied-billed Grebe - 24 22. Mourning Dove - 18 23. American Coot - 104 24. Sandhill Crane - 45 25. Killdeer - 45 26. Dunlin - 558 27. Long-billed Dowitcher - 16 28. Wilson's Snipe - 8 29. Greater Yellowlegs - 36 30. Lesser Yellowlegs - 20 31. Bonaparte's Gull - 328 32. Ring-billed Gull - 575 33. Herring Gull - 4 34. Double-crested Cormorant - 45 35. American White Pelican - 500 (an estimate - J. Reyda and myself had an estimated 410 flying over Rt. 2 east of the refuge as we made our way west to Ottawa NWR; the D. Kuhn West Side crew (diked impoundments out to Crane Creek) had an estimated 450 on the refuge later; the Myles' West Side crew (south end and woodlots) had an estimated 300; I had two flocks totalling 77 birds over the Krause Rd. / Stange Rd. intersection; the East Side crew had an estimate of 500 near the mouth of Crane Creek; the Wildlife Drive crew settled for the 500 the East Side crew had - all at the mouth of Crane Creek on three separate sandbars. Impossible to count, even with a scope, between heads down, heads up, wings outstretched, birds flying from sandbar to sandbar - quite maddening! The record high is 523 from 11/2022) 36. Great Egret - 73 37. Great Blue Heron - 45 38. Northern Harrier - 5 39. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 40. Cooper's Hawk - 2 41. Bald Eagle - 29 (16 adult,13 immature) 42. Red-tailed Hawk - 11 43. Eastern Screech-Owl - 1 (gray morph) (Myles' crew in the woods - great photo!) 44. Belted Kingfisher - 2 45. Red-headed Woodpecker - 1 (Myles' crew in the woods) 46. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 12 47. Downy Woodpecker - 14 48. Northern Flicker - 17 49. Eastern Phoebe - 1 (end of Krause Rd. at start of afternoon drive) 50. Blue Jay - 47 51. American Crow - 49 (J. Reyda's East Side crew) 52. Black-capped Chickadee - 8 53. Tufted Titmouse - 3 54. Horned Lark - 5 (D. Vogus - all along Krause Rd. in the morning) 55. Tree Swallow - 4 (D. Vogus - over the observation deck along Stange Rd.) 56. Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 (D. Vogus - end of Krause Rd. along the hedgerow in the morning) 57. Golden-crowned Kinglet - 11 58. White-breasted Nuthatch - 6 59. Carolina Wren - 8 60. Winter Wren - 1 (D. Kuhn's West Side crew) 61. European Starling - 889 62. Eastern Bluebird - 1 (heard by J. Reyda at the dead-end of Ottawa-Lucas Rd. in the morning) 63. Hermit Thrush - 4 (Myles' crew in the woodlands) 64. American Robin - 24 65. House Sparrow - 24 66. House Finch - 1 67. American Goldfinch - 35 68. Chipping Sparrow - 3 (J. Reyda's East Side crew) 69. Fox Sparrow - 10 70. American Tree Sparrow - 59 71. Dark-eyed Junco - 39 72. White-crowned Sparrow - 6 73. White-throated Sparrow - 63 74. Savannah Sparrow - 1 (D. Vogus - Stange Prairie) 75. Song Sparrow - 27 76. Swamp Sparrow - 21 77. Eastern Meadowlark - 1 (D. Vogus - flew out of Henry Marsh along Krause Rd.) 78. Red-winged Blackbird - 3,943 79. Brown-headed Cowbird - 58 80. Rusty Blackbird - 170 81. Common Grackle - 68 82. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1 (D. Vogus - west end of MS6) 83. Northern Cardinal - 35
??. Unidentified Duck Species - 63 (very distant flocks) ??. Unidentified Shorebird Species - 23 (flock of 3 and flock of 20)
III. AMPHIBIANS: 1 SPECIES, 2 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. American Bullfrog - 2 (Fifth November Record on Census)
IV. FISHES: 1 SPECIES, 34 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Blackstripe Topminnow - 34 (Second November Record on Census)
V. BUTTERFLIES: 6 SPECIES, 8 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Cabbage Butterfly - 2 (Fifth November Record on Census) 2. Clouded Sulphur - 3 3. Orange Sulphur - 1 (Fourth November Record on Census) 4. Bronze Copper - 1 (First November Record on Census) 5. Red Admiral - 1 (Fourth November Record on Census) 6. Common Buckeye - 6 (Third November Record on Census)
VI. MOTHS & CATERPILLARS: 1 SPECIES, 1 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Isabella Tiger Moth - 1 (caterpillar only) (Second Record on Census, Second November Record on Census & Tied Census High from 11/2023)
VII. DRAGONFLIES & DAMSELFLIES: 1 SPECIES. (Recorded since 05/06/2018)
1. Autumn Meadowhawk (Third November Record on Census)
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