Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge

06/12/2026

The milkw**d family of plants includes butterfly w**d, currently coming into bloom with its glowingly orange flowers. Monarch Butterflies famously depend on milkw**d, but the plant is excellent for a whole variety of insects, including a full spectrum of butterflies such as this Great Spangled Fritillary. Why do they like this plant so much? Part of it is that they produce a particularly copious amounts of sweet nectar, which is advertised by the bright flowers, but it is also built into the structure of the flower itself: the flat clusters of flowers are a perfect landing pad. It calls to the butterflies, "Come on in!"

Great Spangled Fritillary, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

06/08/2026

It takes about two weeks for a Baltimore Oriole to carefully weave her nest, which resembles a large sock hanging from a tree branch. We provide twine fibers at the visitor center, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to all the various materials used for a nest, which often include plant fibers and grasses, animal hair, bits of burlap sacks and string and anything else the bird can find. In the end, a single nest can require some 10,000 stitches, all done only with the bird's beak.

Baltimore Oriole and nest viewed from the new Wetland Trail, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

06/05/2026

In the coming weeks, as the first brood of chicks fledge, you may see awkward fledglings loudly begging for food from their doting parents. Sometimes you will see a fledgling that is conspicuously enormous compared to its parent. This is almost certainly a Brown-headed Cowbird, the product of nest parasitism. Adult cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests, never raising their own young. They often target tiny birds like warblers that have no defense. The cowbird egg hatches first, and the large chick smothers or outcompetes the warbler chicks. Even after fledging, the cowbird chick is so voracious and so obnoxious in its begging that they run the adult host bird ragged. It's distressful to watch, which is why Cowbirds are generally despised by local birders.

Brown-headed Cowbird, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

06/01/2026

The Prairie Warbler isn't found on a prairie at all, but rather they prefer scrublands and second-growth forest. For species in this category, it can be difficult to gauge how bird populations are doing. As European settlers cut down old growth forests, scrubland birds thrived, suddenly gifted an enormous amount of new habitat. Now that forests are recovering and scrublands are becoming less common, populations are declining. But are they declining too much? Or are they merely returning to what they were in pre-colonial times? How has their range changed over time? Ornithologists struggle to find ways to answer these questions. In the meantime, Prairie Warblers are undeniably in decline, making any encounter a special treat.

Prairie Warbler, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

05/28/2026

No warbler is easy to find, exactly, but some warblers are especially frustrating, either because they are uncommon or because they are reclusive. The Worm-eating Warbler is both, and has buffy, camouflaged plumage to boot. They don't actually eat worms, as the name erroneously implies, but they like to forage on the forest floor -- deep in large tracts of forest, typically in narrow ravines or on steep slopes (hard to find!). They also nest directly on the forest floor, hidden in thickets. Given all this time spent vulnerable on the ground, their camouflaged plumage makes sense. But, were it not for their distinctive, trilling song, they would be almost impossible to find!

Worm-eating Warbler, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

05/25/2026

Few local species are as non-descript as the Eastern Warbling Vireo. Despite being almost uniformly light gray, they have many bird-enthusiast admirers, largely on account of their loud, consistent, distinctive song. They're the bird that says, "If I could see it, I would seize it, and I would squeeze it 'til it squirts!"

Eastern Warbling Vireo, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

05/25/2026

The Wetland Trail is officially open! Come enjoy this wonderful new aspect of your local National Wildlife Refuge! Bring a friend!

STORY: https://www.wtap.com/2026/05/23/new-wetland-trail-opens-ohio-river-islands-refuge-williamstown/

05/22/2026

Tiny but spectacular, the Magnolia Warbler is one of the great warblers of spring. They can be aggravating to find as they rapidly flit about in dense foliage -- and about the worst thing you can do is look in a Magnolia tree! Early ornithologists often made the mistake of naming birds after the place they were first collected or scientifically observed, assuming it must be indicative. Caspian Terns are found all over the world, not just in the Caspian Sea, Cape May Warblers are relatively uncommon in Cape May, Nashville and Tennessee Warblers have no special attachment to these places, Palm Warblers could care less about palm trees, and the Magnolia Warbler, though first chronicled by Wilson in 1810 after being collected in a Magnolia tree ... well, you see where this is leading.

Magnolia Warbler, photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS

05/19/2026

RARE BIRD: This Glossy Ibis has been spotted just up the road from the Visitor Center in Waverly, prowling around the seasonal wetland along the railroad tracks between the Crossroads Outdoor Sanctuary and the Hallelujah Barn. This stunning, wading bird is native to the east coast, where they forage in wetlands for small fish and insects, as well as seeds. They occasionally find their way inland, where they depend on flooded agricultural fields and wetland areas to tide them over before they continue on their way. Seasonal wetlands along the Ohio River floodplain are a vital lifeline. We've just created one next to our visitor center -- maybe, someday, an ibis will visit our wetland trail!

Photo by Michael Schramm/USFWS