Date: 1/6/25 5:37 pm From: Douglas Vogus <vogeye...> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Ottawa NWR Monthly Census
JANUARY 05, 2025 - OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE MONTHLY CENSUS. ROUTES: East Side, Fox Unit parking lot, West Side, Western Prairies & Henry Marsh in the morning; Wildlife Drive in the afternoon. TIME: 8:00am - 12:00pm; 1:15pm - 3:45pm TIME AFIELD: 6:30 TEMP.: 17F ~ 27F COND.: Cold in the morning with mostly sunny skies, light winds from the west; clouds moving in from the west around 11:15am, but still bright; mostly cloudy in the afternoon; all ditches, canals, and impoundments frozen; Lake Erie open and calm with ice starting to stage; thousands of uncountable ducks and gulls out towards the horizon at West Sister Island with eagles here and there - impossible to tell the species of ducks, gulls, and sexes of eagles; a dusting to about 1-inch of snow cover. OBS. EAST & FOX UNIT: Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Al & Betty Schlecht. OBS. WEST: Tom & Paula Bartlett, Steve Borgis, Basia Gawin, Donna Kuhn, Gabi Lindsay, David Myles, George Novosel, Chris Pierce, Joey & Bryn Saucedo, Tony Szilagye, Tracy Wiczer. OBS. WESTERN PRAIRIES & HENRY MARSH: Douglas W. Vogus. OBS WILDLIFE DRIVE: Tom & Paula Bartlett, Bob Bartolotta, Claire Johnson, Gabi Lindsay, Jim Reyda, Douglas W. Vogus.
I. MAMMALS: 7 SPECIES, 40 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Eastern Cottontail - 7 2. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 10 3. Common Muskrat - 1 4. Coyote - 1 (Fourth January Record on Census) 5. Common Raccoon - 1 6. American Mink - 1 (one observed by J. Reyda attempting to drag a screaming rabbit down to its lair in the limestone breakwall rocks - a blood-curdling scream with the rabbit, on its back, attempting to extricate itself from the rocks as the mink stared Jim down, its face covered in blood and licking the blood off the rocks - Second January Record on Census) 7. White-tailed Deer - 19 (large unknown buck,9-ptr.,8-ptr.,12 does,4 unknown)
II. BIRDS: 52 SPECIES, 3,776 TOTAL. (Recorded since 03/02/1969)
1. Canada Goose - 604 2. Trumpeter Swan - 73 3. Tundra Swan - 1,767 4. American Black Duck - 1 5. Mallard - 7 6. Redhead - 3 7. Common Goldeneye - 40 8. Common Merganser - 30 9. Mourning Dove - 13 10. Sandhill Crane - 174 (New Census High - previous was 96 on 01/2017) 11. Ring-billed Gull - 33 12. Herring Gull - 45 13. Great Blue Heron - 38 14. Northern Harrier - 11 15. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (T. & P. Bartlett - late afternoon East Side - Third January Record on Census) 16. Cooper's Hawk - 2 (together in the afternoon with one chasing the other) 17. Bald Eagle - 41 (18 adult,12 immature,11 far out on the ice - too distant to discern ages) 18. Red-shouldered Hawk - 1 (East Side - Second January Record on Census) 19. Red-tailed Hawk - 10 20. Eastern Screech-Owl - 3 (1 gray morph,2 heard only) 21. Great Horned Owl - 4 22. Red-headed Woodpecker - 5 23. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 13 24. Downy Woodpecker - 20 25. Hairy Woodpecker - 3 26. Northern Flicker - 10 27. American Kestrel - 3 28. Northern Shrike - 1 (T. & P. Bartlett - late afternoon East Side) 29. Blue Jay - 43 30. Black-capped Chickadee - 5 31. Tufted Titmouse - 3 32. Cedar Waxwing - 4 (D. Vogus - Henry Marsh) 33. White-breasted Nuthatch - 9 34. Brown Creeper - 6 35. Carolina Wren - 5 36. Winter Wren - 1 37. Northern Mockingbird - 1 (D. Vogus - Henry Marsh) 38. European Starling - 211 39. Hermit Thrush - 1 (D. Myles - West Side - Third January Record on Census) 40. American Robin - 10 41. House Sparrow - 41 42. House Finch - 1 43. American Goldfinch - 14 44. Fox Sparrow - 1 (J. Reyda group - East Side) 45. American Tree Sparrow - 289 46. Dark-eyed Junco - 38 47. White-throated Sparrow - 8 48. Savannah Sparrow - 1 (D. Vogus - in Stange Prairie in the company of 4 American Tree Sparrows - Fourth January Record on Census) 49. Song Sparrow - 22 50. Swamp Sparrow - 2 51. Red-winged Blackbird - 2 (D. Vogus - fly-over at the Stange Prairie observation deck) 52. Northern Cardinal - 72
??. Unidentified Duck Species - 30 (G. Novosel group - either Common or Red-breasted Mergansers)
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