Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society

Shorebird Field Trip

Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 8:45 a.m.

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Leader: Jason Lewis, Refuge Manager

46 species, 12 birders

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge provides beautiful habitat for shorebirds and wetland species, both residents and migrants.  Refuge Manager Jason Lewis led our tour on a 14-passenger "Blue Goose" bus, provide by the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Association.  Beginning at the Visitor Center, we toured Pool No. 1, the Crane Creek Estuary area and the new Blausey Unit, which is usually not a public area.  Cattle Egrets were a highlight of the Entrance Pool section. Pontoon boats with pea gravel provide nesting platforms for Common Terns at Pool No. 1.  In the Crane Creek Estuary were Marbled Godwits plus a variety of other shorebirds, gulls and terns. Trumpeter Swans were here as well as in the Blausey Unit.  We also saw Black-crowned night herons, an American Bittern and dowitchers at Blausey. A Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant and a partnership between the Refuge, Ducks Unlimited and the Nature Conservancy funded the reclamation of the Blausey Unit, which is on the Toussaint River. It is part of a globally important bird area.

Thanks, Jason Lewis for sharing your knowledge of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge!  Thanks Rich and Karen Kassouf for sending the bird list to eBird.

Bird Lists

46 species seen in several different sections

ONWR visitor center 8:55 a.m.

5 species

  1 - Killdeer Charadrius vociferus

 4 - Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus

 2 - Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

 1 - Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla

 5 - Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus

 ONWR Entrance Pool 9:23 a.m.

4 species

  4 - Great Egret Ardea alba

 2 - Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis

 2 - Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

 1 - Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis

ONWR Crane Creek Estuary 9:33 a.m.

23 species

  2 - Trumpeter Swan Cygnus buccinator

 5 - Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

 1 - Blue-winged Teal Anas discors

 9 - Green-winged Teal Anas crecca

 2 - Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus

 3 - Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias

12 - Great Egret Ardea alba

 1 - Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis

 1 - Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola

 1 - Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius

 1 - Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca

 3 - Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes

 2 - Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa

 1 - Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus

 3 - Bonaparte's Gull Chroicocephalus philadelphia

 7 - Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis

 1 - Herring Gull Larus argentatus

 5 - Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia

12 - Common Tern Sterna hirundo

 4 - Forster's Tern Sterna forsteri

 1 - Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

 5 - American Robin Turdus migratorius

 2 - European Starling Sturnus vulgaris

ONWR Blauesy Unit  (restricted access) 

10:42 a.m.

16 species plus one other taxa

  7 - Canada Goose Branta canadensis

 2 - Trumpeter Swan Cygnus buccinator

 4 - Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

 1 - Blue-winged Teal Anas discors

 1 - American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus

 5 - Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias

 9 - Great Egret Ardea alba

 2 - Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

 4 - Killdeer Charadrius vociferus

 6 - Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla

 1 - Pectoral Sandpiper Calidrismelanotos

 4 - Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus/scolopaceus

 3 - Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

 3 - Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus

11 - Purple Martin Progne subis

 5 - Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

 2 - Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia