I visited the Auto Tour at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern 
Ohio yesterday. Ducks were plentiful; perching birds were few and far 
between, but one of them was well worth the drive from Columbus: near stop 
#2 on the tour, a northern shrike flew into the top of a small tree just a 
few feet from my car, not too far above eye level. It didn't stay long 
enough for me to grab my camera, but it afforded me a much closer look 
than I ever expected to get.

The Auto Tour is also being offered today.

The complete list of species I saw includes the following:
Red-tailed Hawk
Blue Jay
Northern Cardinal (male)
American Tree Sparrow
Northern Shrike (perched in a low tree near stop #2)
Northern Harrier (2-3 females or juveniles, definitely not adult males)
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle (adult and juveniles, numerous and very active, at times 
perching in trees but at other times behaving almost like harriers, flying 
low in groups of 2 or three, vanishing behind the reeds and then popping 
up again a few minutes later, and generally terrorizing the ducks)
Mallard (male and female)
Canada Goose
Norther Shoveler (male and female)
Gadwall (male and female)
Pied-billed Grebe
American Wigeon (I only noticed males, but there may have been females 
present as well)
Hooded Merganser (male)
Ring-billed Gull
American Coot (probably the most abundant bird present)
Redhead (I only noticed males, but there may have been females present as 
well)
Ruddy Duck (male and female)
Lesser Scaup (a lone female)
Ring-necked Duck (male and female)
Northern Pintail (I only noticed males, but there may have been females 
present as well)
Swan sp. (abundant; they looked like Trumpeter to me, but I'm not 100% 
positive they couldn't have been Tundra)

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