Ottawa NWR Monthly Census

August 4, 2002
8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Joining Ed Pierce today was Jim Reda, Claire Johnson,
Chris and Mike Croft, and Delores Cole

Winds: SW at 7 mph
Humidity: 55%
Temperature: 90 +
Hazy

Waiting in the parking lot to see if anyone else will show up.	Ed and his light shirt, the deer flies bit him anyway.
Ed and Claire looking for shorebirds.	The refuge was filled with color.
A little shade....	...for a while.
Jim Reda spotting the Great Horned Owl.	Swamp Rose Mallow was in bloom everywhere!
Common Wood Nymph	Blue Dasher
The dikes were all in pink bloom with Swamp Rose Mallow and Flowering Rush.	This part of the census is five miles around. We had 1 adult and 8 immature Bald Eagles in the trees parallel to Lake Erie.
When we didn't see pink the yellow water lilies were in view.	Flowers were in bloom everywhere we looked.
The van was pretty hot by noon.	And of course, we had to have lunch at Blackberry Corners.
Ed showed us his card system for each species.  He has been doing this census since 1980 and on the cards you can see when the Carolina Wren began to appear by month from 1980 to 2002.
Who hasn't seen those checkered table cloths?

Bird Species List

2		Pied-billed Grebe
8		Double-crested Cormorant
45		Great Blue Heron
75		Great Egret
15		Snowy Egret
8		Green Heron
1		Black-crowned Night-Heron
1		Least Bittern
9		Trumpeter Swan
250		Canada Goose
8		Wood Duck
1		Gadwall
910		Mallard
12		American Black Duck
3		Blue-winged Teal
9		Bald Eagle
5		Red-tailed Hawk
4		Semipalmated Plover
30		Killdeer
1		Short-billed Dowitcher
18		Greater Yellowlegs
21		Lesser Yellowlegs
6		Spotted Sandpiper
6		Semipalmated Sandpiper
43		Least Sandpiper
2		Pectoral Sandpiper
33		Ring-billed Gull
8		Herring Gull
40		Bonaparte's Gull
11		Caspian Tern
62		Common Tern
16		Forster's Tern
40		Mourning Dove
6		Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1		Great Horned Owl
9		Ruby-throated Hummingbird
7		Belted Kingfisher
2		Red-bellied Woodpecker
4		Downy Woodpecker
2		Northern Flicker
4		Willow Flycatcher
4		Eastern Phoebe
4		Great Crested Flycatcher
13		Eastern Kingbird
46		Purple Martin
250		Tree Swallow
8		Northern Rough-winged Swallow
8		Bank Swallow
40		Barn Swallow
3		Cedar Waxwing
1		Carolina Wren
24		House Wren
6		Marsh Wren
26		Gray Catbird
1		Brown Thrasher
1		Eastern Bluebird
5		American Robin
2		Black-capped Chickadee
1		Tufted Titmouse
12		Blue Jay
240		European Starling
4		Warbling Vireo
26		Yellow Warbler
31		Common Yellowthroat
10		Field Sparrow
45		Song Sparrow
4		Swamp Sparrow
14		Northern Cardinal
30		Indigo Bunting
224		Red-winged Blackbird
2		Eastern Meadowlark
15		Common Grackle
12		Baltimore Oriole
55		House Finch
45		American Goldfinch
2		House Sparrow
76		Species
2952		Total

Butterflies

Cabbage White
Alfala or Orange Sulphur
Common Wood Nymph
Viceroy
Monarch
Fiery Skipper
American Lady
Common Buckeye

Dragonflies

Blue Dasher
Halloween Pennant
Eastern Pondhawk
Eastern Amberwing


The census is conducted on the first Sunday of every month from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. You are welcome to participate.
 Click here for the link for directions to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge which is located on Route 2.

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Map