Winous Point Marsh

04/07/2026

H2Ohio Marshbird Monitoring Program – A Partnership between Audubon Great Lakes, Ohio State University, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The H2Ohio Marshbird Monitoring Program is a scientific effort to assess how H2Ohio-funded wetland restoration impacts marshbird populations and water quality across the Lake Erie Basin. By pairing bird surveys with nutrient monitoring, this work seeks to show how restored wetlands deliver measurable environmental benefits.

Check out this video highlighting this awesome project and see some of last year’s staff and interns at work!

H2Ohio Marshbird Monitoring Program – A Partnership between Audubon Great Lakes, Ohio State University, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The H2O...

04/03/2026

Our staff is continuing Lesser Scaup banding this week with the help of the Ohio State University chapter of Ducks Unlimited.

03/31/2026

WPMC staff has been hard at work today preparing our Common Tern nesting platform predator guards and banding Lesser Scaup.

03/07/2025

In 2015 Winous Point Marsh Conservancy banded a total of 35 canvasback ducks. On January 29, 2025, a hunter harvested and reported one of those canvasbacks during a hunt on the Ohio River upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. This duck was banded by us on March 6, 2015 meaning it was at least 11 years old at harvest! This photo shows a good friend of WPMC, Tom Kashmer, banding a canvasback, 2015.

03/30/2022

WPMC’s winter duck banding has ended after 3 weeks of trapping, and a very busy 3 weeks it was! We targeted American black ducks to assist the Ohio Division of Wildlife and Black Duck Joint Venture. We banded 204 black ducks, 257 mallards, 8 American redheads, and 2 American coot during the month of March.

Other projects supported by our winter banding included collection of 200 avian influenza samples in support of USDA Wildlife Services, the equipping of 17 hen mallards with GSM transmitters for a Ph.D. student at Michigan State University studying Great Lakes mallard populations, and duck excrement collection for a Ph.D. student at Kent State University studying wetland nutrient cycling.

08/23/2021

This summer has been another busy one for WPMC staff in our effort to assist the Ohio Division of Wildlife with wood duck and mallard banding quotas. Trapping has been relatively slow, but we have banded 254 wood ducks and 211 mallards as of today.

One of several highlights during duck banding this summer is our involvement in a new research project led by Ph.D. student Ben Luukkonen of Michigan State University. Ben is conducting a new effort to better understand habitat use, population dynamics, migratory site fidelity, and genetics of Great Lakes mallards. WPMC is just one of many research partners assisting with the project including the Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin DNRs, Forbes Biological Station, Franklin College, Ducks Unlimited, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

One component of this project involves the attachment of satellite transmitters on hen mallards. WPMC staff attached transmitters to 3 hens this spring and another 11 this summer (transmitter pictured below). Two other highlights from this summer are our capture and banding of 5 black ducks and 4 leucistic mallards, both of which are a relative oddity in summer-time in Ohio.

05/26/2021

Winous Point Marsh Conservancy staff began our third field season trapping and tracking radio marked king rails in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan in support of a graduate student at Central Michigan University. Three king rails have now been captured in Michigan, which are some of the first ever radio-marked individuals in that state. We are currently tracking 5 radio-marked birds and trapping will continue through June. Ultimately, this project should result in one of the strongest habitat datasets ever collected for king rails in the Great Lakes region.

04/01/2021

Hi all, I just wanted to share a few photos from our winter duck banding program. We have had another successful winter, banding over 80 American black ducks and a handful of ring-necked ducks. Enjoy!

10/20/2020

I know I can speak for a lot of folks when I say birding and access to outdoor places has improved my mental health and happiness. Everyone should have access to natural resources and opportunities to be outside. Check out this Birdability Week and the links below!

The National Audubon Society is helping to ensure everyone has access to birding. Birdability Week 2020 (held online, October 19-25) is the beginning of the conversation about how we can make birding more accessible and inclusive for birders who experience accessibility challenges, and inspire the birding community to make these changes. For more info, head to https://gis.audubon.org/birdability/ #:~:text=Birdability%20Week,-Accessibility%20challenges%20are&text=Birdabilty%20Week%202020%20. Ohio Division of Wildlife Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities

10/18/2020

Looking for something fun to do on a Sunday night? Brush up on your waterfowl wing ID :)

Agency manages National wildlife refuges, protects endangered species, manages migratory birds, restores nationally significant fisheries and enforces federal wildlife laws.

10/13/2020

Its ! If you’re out in the woods or wetlands this fall, keep your eyes peeled for GPS collared trumpeter swans! The Winous Point Marsh Conservancy assisted the ODNR, Trumpeter Swan Society and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo with this project. It was an incredible experience to be a part of this multi state and agency research and help band, collar and take blood samples (for a genetic component of the study).

Now you can help too! If you see our collared swans, you can report your photos and updates to the website listed in the post below. Thank you! 🦢

OHIO
We need your help.

Be on the lookout for a dozen Ohio trumpeter swans with white GPS collars!

The swans are part of the largest swan tracking study ever done in the Midwest.

You can track these Ohio swans on a public website: http://bit.ly/SwanTracking

If you see any of GPS-collared swans, please fill out the online quick and easy Trumpeter Watch Report at: http://bit.ly/SwanReport

The report lets us know the date and location you see the swan. Is it with other swans? Is it on water or on land, like a farm field?

You can easily upload photos and videos. The Trumpeter Swan Society will share your report and photos with the Ohio project team partners.

The Ohio Department of Wildlife (ODOW) swan tracking project got a big boost from Ohio zoos. Ohio zoos helped fund many of the collars. They also helped the ODOW capture the swans to be measured, weighed, tested, and collared. The swans were released back to their capture site.

Check out the public website to see if any of the GPS swans are near you during any part of their year-long travels. Help record their history as it happens!