Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge We will make major contributions to the long-term health and vibrancy of the Refuge and its management.

Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 1997 that supports the conservation mission Ohio’s only national wildlife refuge complex by acquiring land, engaging the community and enhancing public access. Ten-Year Strategic Goals – 2013-2022

Friends of Ottawa NWR provides substantial support for Refuge Complex operations, organizing and funding a variety of programs and projects. People from near and far experience the Refuge Complex in person and through the internet as a world-class destination for wildlife enthusiasts, hunters, students, and families. We will bring increasing numbers of visitors here without harming the wildlife or the habitat. With significant help from Friends of Ottawa, the Refuge Complex will grow. We will increase the amount of habitat available and grow wildlife populations in accordance with the Comprehensive Conservation Plan. Friends of Ottawa will be a strong and influential voice with national, state and local leaders about the importance of conservation in general and of the Refuge Complex in particular. We will actively advocate for the land, water, air, and wildlife. Friends of Ottawa will be a strong organization with sufficient human and financial capacity to achieve our mission and goals. We will build a structure that is durable, sustainable, and held up as a national model among Friends associations.

Another glimpse into Puddles, the blue goose last adventure. He stopped to admire the work done by staff at Ottawa Nati...
09/15/2026

Another glimpse into Puddles, the blue goose last adventure. He stopped to admire the work done by staff at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to clean the viewing deck located on the hiking trails between MS8B & Pool 2C. This deck is only a short hike from the trailhead parking. You can watch wildlife in two different marshes and enjoy views of color change in the North and South Woods.



📷Plush toy Puddles, the blue goose sitting on wooden railing of viewing deck/ L. Monska

09/14/2026

It is certainly butterfly season here in Northwest Ohio! Monarchs have been staging for their migration south in and around Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge!

Interested in learning more about monarchs, their migration, and how scientists study them? Join us for a Monarch Hike!

🦋Sunday, September 20, 10:30-11:30am at Fox Nature Preserve: 5854 N Lickert Harder Rd, Oak Harbor, OH 43449

🦋Sunday, September 20, 1:30-2:30pm at the Marinewood Unit: 4656 W Harbor Rd, Port Clinton, OH 43452

🦋Sunday, September 27, 10:30-11:30am at Fox Nature Preserve: 5854 N Lickert Harder Rd, Oak Harbor, OH 43449

🦋Sunday, September 27, 1:30-2:30pm at the Marinewood Unit: 4656 W Harbor Rd, Port Clinton, OH 43452-9025, United States

Video courtesy of Molly Dresser

🪰🦟🐜🦋 Big Bug BioBlitz got a little buggy 🐛🪲🐞🦗🪳 Bugs are an important component in our ecosystems. The bugs were activ...
09/14/2026

🪰🦟🐜🦋 Big Bug BioBlitz got a little buggy 🐛🪲🐞🦗🪳

Bugs are an important component in our ecosystems. The bugs were active morning, day, and night. Insects can be found in wetlands, woodlands, waterways, various flower & seed heads, live flora, decaying substrates, under bark & rocks, in the soils. Insects have various lifecycles that require different needs as they mature. A good example is dragonflies where eggs are laid in the water and live a fully aquatic life for one to three years before emerging as an adult, depending on the species.

Insects feed a lot of other insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. The more diverse the bugs the better for our environments. If you love those warblers in the spring, thank the bugs and the plants.

Along with the graphic recap, we are including some photos from the Blacklight Event at Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge.



📷Graphic with info/FONWR
📷Flashlight and black lights looking for insects/L. Monska
📷Black lighting lichens on a rock while looking for bugs/L. Monska
📷White-banded crab spider under black light/L. Monska
📷Polyphemus moth caterpillar at night/L. Monska

The canoe has officially found its new adventure buddy!A big congratulations to Nick N. of Ottawa Lake, MI, the winner o...
09/13/2026

The canoe has officially found its new adventure buddy!

A big congratulations to Nick N. of Ottawa Lake, MI, the winner of our Coleman RAM-X 15' Canoe raffle! We had to share this photo of Nick with his new ride strapped to the Subaru and ready for wherever the next adventure takes him. 🛶

Thank you to everyone who purchased a raffle ticket! Together, you helped us raise more than $800 to support conservation efforts at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.

And one more huge thank you to Jim, our Friends member who generously donated the canoe. His gift gave the canoe a new home, helped raise funds for the Refuge, and will hopefully lead to plenty more days spent outside.

We love all the creative ways our Friends find to support the Refuge. Sometimes it’s a donation, sometimes it’s volunteering, and sometimes it’s a canoe! If you have an idea, an item, a skill, or another creative way you’d like to help support Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, reach out - we’d love to hear it!

Congratulations, Nick! We hope you and the canoe have already had some great adventures!

Photo: Canoe raffle winner Nick ready to hit the road with his prize! | FONWR

Cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) are one bird that just about everyone wants to see. They can be fairly easy to ide...
09/13/2026

Cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) are one bird that just about everyone wants to see. They can be fairly easy to identify when you can see their face. The black mask on the face, pointed crest, and red tips on their wing feathers are three key identifying marks.

Waxwings are known for eating berries and cedar berries are some they consume. This is where the species name cedorum comes in. The waxwing comes from the red waxy appendages on their secondary wing feathers. Younger birds may have five or less while older waxwings, may have as many as nine.

Sometimes when you see waxwings eating, you might catch them sharing berries. Waxwings chicks are fed insects until they grow a bit and after a few days the parents are changing to feeding berries.



📷 Cedar waxwing with open mouth about to eat a berry/L. Monska
📷 bird wing showing red appendages at tip/L. Monska

Puddles, the Blue Goose, found some really cool flowers blooming while on his latest adventure. Biennial beeblossom (Oen...
09/12/2026

Puddles, the Blue Goose, found some really cool flowers blooming while on his latest adventure.

Biennial beeblossom (Oenothera gaura) is a native plant that lives for two years, hence the name. Seeds from the mother plant scatter producing the next generation. First year plants will produce a rosette of blooms. Second year plants can grow up to six feet tall. It is with this height and aid of the wind that the seeds are scattered to aid future beeblossoms. The flowers are faint pink with darker bases.



📷faint pink/pink flowers on green stems/L. Monska
📷Puddles plush toy sitting on branch with flowers/ L. Monska

Patriot Day 2026
09/11/2026

Patriot Day 2026

09/10/2026

WOW! I am stunned. I knew it was going to be a big migration night, but this is turning out to be one of the most impressive nights of the year. When I first glanced at the radar, my first thought was a shield of rain was moving in from the west. Nope...migratory birds are taking advantage of the cold front moving through. The birds are flying higher than normal tonight (for the fall migration) and faster too. In our local area, birds are flying about 3,000 feet aloft and at about 35 mph towards the south to southeast. So far, birdcast estimates nearly 550 million birds are in flight, most in the western Great Lakes region, that is the biggest night of the fall season so far.

For remembrance of 9.11, we will have our weekly chuckle today. Anyone else need an extra cup of caffeine if the week...
09/10/2026

For remembrance of 9.11, we will have our weekly chuckle today.

Anyone else need an extra cup of caffeine if the week gets a little scattered. We also celebrated Labor Day on Monday, so anyone who gets their days mixed up is going to mixed up a little more. 😂

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14000 W State Route 2
Oak Harbor, OH
43449

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+14197077756

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