Date: 7/6/26 4:06 pm From: Douglas Vogus <vogeye...> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Ottawa NWR Monthly Census
JULY 05, 2026 - OTTAWA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE MONTHLY CENSUS. ROUTES: East Side, Fox Unit (parking lot only), West Side and Western Prairies in the morning, (no time for Henry Marsh due to sheltering from the thunderstorms). Wildlife Drive in the afternoon. TIME: 7:20am - 11:45am; 12:45pm - 3:20pm TIME AFIELD: 7:00 TEMP.: 74F ~ 78F COND.: (As reported from your weatherman in the western prairies - possibly different out on the impoundments) Cloudy, warm and calm at the start; front moving in from the southwest, clouds turning ominous and stacking in waves, then a thunderstorm with lightning and heavy winds from 8:10am to 8:25am; rain tapering off as the front moved out towards Lake Erie . . . but, the front hit the lake and the wind pushed the front back towards Ottawa; winds shifting to northwest and clouding back up again; rain again, this time no lightning, from 9:30am to 9:45am; clouds turning ominous again, very dark and another round of thunderstorms, this time from the west, with heavy rain lasting from 10:10am to 10:30am; mostly cloudy and warmer in the afternoon; Lake Erie very choppy as the wind shifted to N/NE; no mudflats in Crane Creek with water being pushed up the creek from the wind. OBS. EAST & FOX UNIT: Jim Reyda, Al & Betty Schlecht. OBS. WEST: Katie Clink (South Woods and North Woods and vicinity); Jennifer Kuehn, Donna Kuhn, George Novosel, Chris Pierce, Mark Swelstad, Tracy Wiczer (main impoundment trails out to the Crane Creek floodplain and back). OBS. WESTERN PRAIRIES: Douglas W. Vogus. OBS. WILDLIFE DRIVE: Group I - Jennifer Kuehn, Donna Kuhn, George Novosel, Chris Pierce, Mark Swelstad, Tracy Wiczer. Group II: Bob Bartolotta, Jim Reyda, Douglas W. Vogus.
I. MAMMALS: 7 SPECIES, 81 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Eastern Cottontail - 56 2. Woodchuck - 5 3. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 2 4. Common Muskrat - 1 5. Coyote - 2 (pups) (First July Record on Census & Tied Census High from 03/2008, 01/2018, 02/2018, 02/2020 & 02/2022) 6. Common Raccoon - 1 7. White-tailed Deer - 14 (5 bucks,8 does,1 unknown)
II. BIRDS: 74 SPECIES, 2,669 TOTAL. (Recorded since 03/02/1969)
1. Canada Goose - 170 2. Trumpeter Swan - 149 (5 juvenile) 3. Wood Duck - 31 4. Mallard - 9 5. Pied-billed Grebe - 1 6. Mourning Dove - 20 7. Virginia Rail - 1 8. Common Gallinule - 5 9. Sandhill Crane - 10 10. Killdeer - 24 11. American Woodcock - 1 12. Spotted Sandpiper - 4 13. Lesser Yellowlegs - 1 14. Ring-billed Gull - 5 15. American Herring Gull - 3 16. Caspian Tern - 4 17. Black Tern - 6 18. Common Tern - 15 19. Double-crested Cormorant - 10 20. American White Pelican - 4 21. Least Bittern - 1 22. Black-crowned Night-Heron - 1 (immature) (East Side) 23. Green Heron - 5 24. Great Egret - 84 25. Great Blue Heron - 26 26. Turkey Vulture - 1 27. Osprey - 2 (Fourth July Record on Census) 28. Bald Eagle - 21 (18 adult,3 immature) 29. Red-headed Woodpecker - 2 30. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3 31. Downy Woodpecker - 4 32. Northern Flicker - 14 33. American Kestrel - 1 (Fox Unit) 34. Great Crested Flycatcher - 3 35. Eastern Kingbird - 23 36. Eastern Wood-Pewee - 11 37. Willow Flycatcher - 7 38. Eastern Phoebe - 5 39. Eastern Warbling Vireo - 19 40. Red-eyed Vireo - 4 41. Blue Jay - 11 42. Black-capped Chickadee - 1 43. Tree Swallow - 503 44. Purple Martin - 172 45. Barn Swallow - 50 46. Cliff Swallow - 2 47. Cedar Waxwing - 6 48. White-breasted Nuthatch - 2 49. Carolina Wren - 8 50. Northern House Wren - 36 51. Marsh Wren - 19 52. Gray Catbird - 35 53. Brown Thrasher - 5 54. European Starling - 108 55. American Robin - 83 56. House Sparrow - 5 57. House Finch - 1 58. American Goldfinch - 24 59. Chipping Sparrow - 2 60. Field Sparrow - 11 61. Henslow's Sparrow - 1 (north end of Grimm Prairie) 62. Song Sparrow - 63 63. Swamp Sparrow - 15 64. Eastern Meadowlark - 1 65. Baltimore Oriole - 8 66. Red-winged Blackbird - 541 67. Brown-headed Cowbird - 4 68. Common Grackle - 23 69. Prothonotary Warbler - 4 70. Common Yellowthroat - 76 71. Northern Yellow Warbler - 57 72. Northern Cardinal - 34 73. Indigo Bunting - 34 74. Dickcissel - 14
*(HISTORICAL for JULY - - - High: 92 Species (2003); Low: 54 Species (1983); Average: 79.1 Species.)*
III. REPTILES: 6 SPECIES, 11 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Common Snapping Turtle - 1 2. Northern Map Turtle - 5 (Fifth July Record on Census) 3. Red-eared Turtle - 1 4. Midland Painted Turtle - 2 5. Eastern Spiny Softshell - 1 (Third July Record on Census) 6. Eastern Garter Snake - 1
IV. AMPHIBIANS: 2 SPECIES, 3 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. American Bullfrog - 1 2. Green Frog - 2
V. FISHES: 1 SPECIES, 4 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Common Carp - 2
VI. BUTTERFLIES: 7 SPECIES, 54 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Eastern Black Swallowtail - 8 2. Cabbage Butterfly - 27 3. Clouded Sulphur - 6 4. Eastern Tailed-Blue - 2 5. Red Admiral - 1 6. Common Buckeye - 6 (Fourth July Record on Census) 7. Monarch - 4
VII. MOTHS/CATERPILLARS: 1 SPECIES, 12 TOTAL. (Recorded since 04/07/2002)
1. Topiary Grass-veneer Moth - 12 (Second Record on Census, Second July Record on Census & New Census High - previous was 1 on 07/06/25)
VIII. DRAGONFLIES & DAMSELFLIES: 6 SPECIES. (Recorded since 05/06/2018)
1. Common Green Darner 2. Halloween Pennant 3. Eastern Pondhawk 4. Blue Dasher 5. Common Whitetail 6. Black Saddlebags
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