Willow+Point+Wildlife+Area

Also, see Pickerel Creek Birding Drive
 * =Birding in Ohio=

Erie County
=Willow Point Wildlife Area= Wahl Road, off of US-6 Vickery, Ohio 43464 Willow Point Wildlife Area webpage Willow Point Wildlife Area (Coastal Access) webpage Willow Point Wildlife Area map

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Willow Point Wildlife Area
Coordinates: 41.4396894, -82.8771257 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Willow Point Wildlife Area--Eastern Pools
Coordinates: 41.439664, -82.8660789 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Willow Point Wildlife Area--Fish Work Unit
Coordinates: 41.4335542, -82.880915 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Tips for birding Willow Point Wildlife Area
From on Lake Erie Birding Trail website

There are two access points with parking at Willow Point Wildlife Area. From Ken Ostermiller
 * The eastern pools can be reached by driving north from Wahl Road onto the dirt Willow Point Road. This road ends at a fishing access on Sandusky Bay. About half way between Wahl Road and Sandusky Bay there is a small parking area on the east side of Willow Point Road which provides walking access to the dikes around the eastern pools.
 * Further west on Wahl Road there is a parking area at the Fish Work Unit. Walk from here to two pools, one to the north and another to the northwest of the buildings. These pools can sometimes be good for shorebirds. Or walk further north to the pools by Sandusky Bay.

About Willow Point Wildlife Area
Willow Point Wildlife Area juts into Sandusky Bay and features an extensive marsh protected by a system of dikes. Willow Point originally was conserved as a private duck club and was acquired by the Ohio Division of Wildlife in 1975. Large numbers of waterfowl gather in migration, especially dabbling ducks. This is a good spot to search through American Wigeon in March and April for the much rarer Eurasian Wigeon. A good variety of marsh birds occurs, including herons, rails, Marsh Wren, and sometimes Yellow-headed Blackbird. There are numerous Bald Eagles in the area, and winter counts on adjacent Sandusky Bay sometimes total 40 or more birds.

Willow Point is a 645-acre wildlife area located in Erie and Sandusky counties, seven miles west of the city of Sandusky. The area can be reached from US-6 by traveling north on Sandusky County Road 290 or by going west on Erie County Road 35 (Wahl Road).

The area lies on the southern shore of Sandusky Bay. The general topography is flat, and about two-thirds of the area is open water and marshland. Cattails are the primary vegetation in the marshes. Much of the remaining acreage is open land.

Early records indicate an extensive wet prairie in this vicinity. These accounts relate that prairie grasses grew to seven feet in height, and were so thick and bound together with pea vines as to make travel almost impossible. During this period, the vast prairies were surrounded by oak-chestnut woodlots. The same accounts describe tremendous numbers of waterfowl. Wild rice and other waterfowl foods grew in abundance in the clear waters of Sandusky Bay. After 1850, as the land was settled, cleared, and drained for agriculture, waterfowl habitat was seriously damaged. The turbid waters of the bay no longer supported the huge beds of wild rice and other aquatic vegetation, and waterfowl numbers decreased.

From approximately 1920 to 1972 a group of sportsmen from Columbus, Ohio leased the marsh for their private use and called it the Willow Point Duck Club. When high water levels in the early 1970s caused severe problems with maintaining the marsh, the club disbanded.

The Willow Point area was acquired by the Division of Wildlife in 1975. This region continues to support a good waterfowl population and it is presently managed as a public hunting and fishing area, with emphasis on waterfowl and rabbits. From Willow Point Wildlife Area webpage

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|| L276790 US US-OH US-OH-043 41.4396894 -82.8771257 Willow Point Wildlife Area L3863633 US US-OH US-OH-043 41.439664 -82.8660789 Willow Point Wildlife Area--Eastern Pools L3863624 US US-OH US-OH-043 41.4335542 -82.880915 Willow Point Wildlife Area--Fish Work Unit