Date: 4/6/26 4:03 pm From: Douglas Vogus <vogeye...> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Ottawa NWR Monthly Census
APRIL 05, 2026 - OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE MONTHLY CENSUS. ROUTE: East Side, Fox Unit (parking lot only), Boss Unit, West Side, Western Prairies and Henry Marsh in the morning; Wildlife Drive (packed lunches on the Crane Creek bridge due to everything local being closed for Easter) in the afternoon. TIME: 7:25am - 3:00pm TIME AFIELD: 7:35 TEMP.: 40F ~ 44F (windchill of 28F) COND.: Overcast with sideways rain at the start, lasting about 20 minutes; wind W at 25mph, occasional gusts to 30mph; wind diminishing to 10-15mph later; cloudy all day with lots of standing water from recent rains; many flooded fields. OBS. EAST, FOX UNIT, & BOSS UNIT: Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Al & Betty Schlecht. OBS. WEST: Mary Applegate, Susan Brauning, Katie Clink & her coon-hound Maggie, Jennifer Kuehn, Donna Kuhn, George Novosel, Chris Pierce, Bart Soeder (partial). OBS. WESTERN PRAIRIES & HENRY MARSH: Douglas W. Vogus. OBS. WILDLIFE DRIVE: Jim Koppin, Jim Reyda, Douglas W. Vogus.
I. MAMMALS: 6 SPECIES, 35 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Eastern Cottontail - 14 2. Eastern Chipmunk - 1 (First April Record on Census & Tied Census High from 08/2020 & 06/2025) 3. Woodchuck - 1 4. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 14 5. Common Muskrat - 2 6. White-tailed Deer - 3 (does)
II. BIRDS: 88 SPECIES, 11,531 TOTAL. (Recorded since 03/02/1969)
1. Canada Goose - 275 2. Trumpeter Swan - 123 (one with yellow neckband "1A2") 3. Wood Duck - 83 4. Blue-winged Teal - 87 5. Northern Shoveler - 92 6. Gadwall - 98 7. American Wigeon - 2 8. American Black Duck - 28 9. Mallard - 320 10. Northern Pintail - 27 11. Green-winged Teal - 141 12. Redhead - 10 13. Ring-necked Duck - 186 14. Greater Scaup - 5 15. Lesser Scaup - 5,131 16. Bufflehead - 63 17. Hooded Merganser - 4 18. Common Merganser - 12 19. Ruddy Duck - 8 20. Pied-billed Grebe - 15 21. Rock Pigeon - 1 22. Mourning Dove - 17 23. American Coot - 14 24. Sandhill Crane - 54 25. Killdeer - 18 26. Wilson's Snipe - 7 27. Greater Yellowlegs - 2 28. Lesser Yellowlegs - 22 29. Bonaparte's Gull - 1,331 30. Ring-billed Gull - 176 31. American Herring Gull - 6 32. Caspian Tern - 1 33. Common Tern - 1 34. Double-crested Cormorant - 72 35. American White Pelican - 63 36. Great Egret - 39 37. Great Blue Heron - 27 38. Turkey Vulture - 27 39. Osprey - 3 40. Northern Harrier - 3 41. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4 42. Cooper's Hawk - 2 43. Bald Eagle - 66 (37m,28f,1 juvenile in nest) 44. Red-tailed Hawk - 3 45. Great Horned Owl - 3 46. Belted Kingfisher - 1 47. Red-headed Woodpecker - 1 48. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 14 49. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2 50. Downy Woodpecker - 7 51. Hairy Woodpecker - 2 52. Northern Flicker - 48 53. Pileated Woodpecker - 2 (one in the South Woods for K. Clink and one female north of Henry Marsh for D. Vogus - Third April Record on Census & Tied Census High from 09/2025) 54. American Kestrel - 11 (heavy migration push - most hunting the canals and waterways looking for water-displaced voles?) 55. Blue Jay - 21 56. Black-capped Chickadee - 1 57. Tufted Titmouse - 1 58. Horned Lark - 2 59. Tree Swallow - 728 60. Purple Martin - 1 61. Barn Swallow - 1 62. Golden-crowned Kinglet - 25 63. White-breasted Nuthatch - 6 64. Brown Creeper - 4 65. Carolina Wren - 6 66. Winter Wren - 3 67. Brown Thrasher - 4 68. European Starling - 91 69. American Robin - 137 70. House Sparrow - 13 71. House Finch - 1 72. American Goldfinch - 1 73. Field Sparrow - 4 74. Fox Sparrow - 41 75. American Tree Sparrow - 41 76. Dark-eyed Junco - 10 77. White-throated Sparrow - 4 78. Savannah Sparrow - 1 79. Song Sparrow - 42 80. Swamp Sparrow - 5 81. Eastern Towhee - 2 82. Eastern Meadowlark - 3 83. Red-winged Blackbird - 1,297 84. Brown-headed Cowbird - 13 85. Rusty Blackbird - 21 86. Common Grackle - 154 87. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6 88. Northern Cardinal - 44
??. Unidentified Duck Species - 31 (too distant to discern) ??. Unidentified Sparrow Species - 6 (fleeting glimpses)
III. AMPHIBIANS: 2 SPECIES, 2 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Western Chorus Frog - 1 (heard - Second Record on Census, First April Record on Census & Tied Census High from 05/2025) 2. Green Frog - 1 (First April Record on Census)
IV. FISHES: 1 SPECIES, 1 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
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