Mallard Club Marsh Wildlife Area

Mallard Club Marsh Wildlife Area

8763 Cedar Point Road Curtice, Ohio 43412

Official Website
Mallard Club Marsh Wildlife Area map

Also, see all the hotspots at:
Lake Erie Western Basin Important Bird Area

Tips for Birding

This 402 acre marshland is a prime viewing area for migrant waterfowl (especially in March and April), and nesting marshland specialties during the breeding season. In addition, the Mallard Club Marsh has excellent potential for vagrants, such as the male Garganey seen in May of 2002.

Access to the marsh is limited to the 2 small parking areas on Cedar Point Road. From either of these bases, you can walk around the dikes and view different impoundments. There is excellent cattail marsh in several impoundments, and sought-after species like American and Least bitterns and even Yellow-headed blackbirds and King rails are present in very low numbers in most years. May and June is the best time to look and listen for these birds. The Black Tern likely nests in the adjacent (and off-limits) Cedar Point marsh, and can be occasionally seen from the dikes at Mallard Club Marsh.

Hunting is a popular activity at the marsh, so the best (and safest) birding can be enjoyed in the spring and summer months. Beginning in March, large numbers of the 20 regularly-occurring Ohio ducks can be seen in the marsh itself or in adjacent Lake Erie waters just to the north. Spring hawk flights are also possible, so be sure to watch the skies in March and April. There is little woodland habitat, and as a result, very few woodland birds.

Exit I-280 at OH-2 and go east to North Curtis Road. Go north on Curtis Road to Cedar Point Road. Turn east on Cedar Point Road to the Mallard Club Marsh parking lots—one of which is just over a mile from Curtis Road, the other about a mile and a half. Both parking areas (gravel) are on the north side of the road.

Two parking areas on the south edge of the property accessed from Cedar Point Road. Just over one mile and just over one and a half miles, respectively, east of North Curtis Road.

Mallard Club Marsh is a stop on the Lake Erie Birding Trail.

Birds of Interest

Winter
An occasional Snowy Owl.
Spring
Waterfowl and hawk migrations.
Summer
Least and American Bitterns, Sora, Virginia and King Rails (rare), Common Moorhen, Black Tern, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Sedge Wren.
Fall
Waterfowl migration (limited opportunity due to hunting).

About this Location

Mallard Club Marsh State Wildlife Area is geared for hunting, fishing, and trapping. The area is sectioned into six marshlands separated by dikes and managed to provide wetland vegetation that sustains a variety of wildlife. The marsh has a pocket of wooded land on the property’s western extent. The wildlife area is bounded to the west by Maumee Bay State Park and to the east and northeast by Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge. A small portion of the marsh touches Maumee Bay.

The northern portion of Mallard Club Marsh was originally a private duck hunting club for which it is named. In 1974, the area was purchased by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and in 1992 acquired by the Division of Wildlife. In 1994, cropland areas were rehabilitated to a wetland environment through dike renovation, installation of pumps, and development of water supply channels for water level management.

Dirt and grass trails atop the dikes lead to prime hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing sites. More than 300 bird species frequent the area including waterfowl such as mallards, black ducks, wood ducks, blue- and green-winged teal, and bald eagles, shorebirds, and songbirds. Waterfowl hunting is popular during established seasons. Trapping is permitted; muskrats, raccoons, and mink are common.

Mallard Club Marsh State Wildlife Area has three gravel parking lots along Cedar Point Road.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

  • Entrance fee

  • Roadside viewing

Content from Official Website and Ohio Ornithological Society