Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area-2

Killbuck Marsh is a 5,761-acre wildlife area in Wayne and Holmes counties located near the town of Wooster. It is the largest marsh outside of the... more

by R A W M

Title

Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area-2

Artist

R A W M

Medium

Photograph

Description

Killbuck Marsh is a 5,761-acre wildlife area in Wayne and Holmes counties located near the town of Wooster. It is the largest marsh outside of the northern Lake Erie region; over half its acreage is wetland.



The Wildlife Area

A section of the wildlife area is designated as a wildlife refuge and is off-limits to visitors. The remainder is available for hunters (during hunting season) and fishermen. There are a couple of short trails and numerous scattered parking areas and pull-offs for wildlife observation, fishing, and hunting.

The top sign indicates that the region beyond is an official wildlife refuge that's off-limits to visitors. The bottom sign reminds hunters to be careful distinguishing snow geese from swans. This was photographed near

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources working with Ducks Unlimited has done a lot of work to create a premier wildlife area. Together they've created open fields and built dikes to increase the size of the wetlands. Nesting areas for prothonotary warblers and barn owls were built. River otters and trumpeter swans were released into the area, and they have both built-up sizable populations.

The area is popular with birders and features nests of sandhill cranes and bald eagles. During the fall and spring migrations it is popular with a variety of waterfowl including the ubiquitous Canada geese, as well as snow geese, herons, egrets, and a variety of duck species.

We visited Killbuck Marsh this past weekend. It was cold and sunny in the morning, growing cloudier as the day progressed, and finally ending in snow flurries.
Sites that we visited at Killbuck Marsh
An excerpt of the map for Killbuck Marsh showing our stops in yellow.

A Lamentation of Swans

Trumpeter Swans

A lamentation is one of many names used to refer to a group of swans when theyre not in flight. We saw many swans that were too far away for us to identify which species they were, but Id like to begin by talking about the trumpeter swan, a species that has successfully become established at Killbuck Marsh. Although we were unable to take any photos of them there, here are a couple of photos of this species that we took last September at The Wilds.
Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)
Profile view of Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator); this one is wearing a neck tag
Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)
Trumpeter Swan swimming

The trumpeter swan is the largest species of waterfowl on earth. It is also North Americas heaviest, native bird. The largest known specimen of trumpeter swan weighed in at 38 lbs (17.2 kg) and had a wing span of 10 feet (3.1 m).

Trumpeter swans get their name because they trumpet. In particular prior to flying off as a group, the members of this group bob their heads up and down and vocalize loudly before and during take-off.

Mute Swans

At our first stop at Killbuck Marsh we were greeted by a trio of mute swans with a flock of Canada geese behinds them. Mute swans are not native to North America, so these must have descended from escaped swans. The species originates from Europe, Asia and North Africa.

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November 26th, 2014