West Sister Island Rookery

Welcome to the West Sister Island Rookery

FACTS ABOUT WEST SISTER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE:
--WSI is located approximately midway between Toledo and South Bass Island, and is about 8 miles off shore.
--WSI was established as a refuge in 1937.
--In 1975, 77 acres of the 82 acre island were designated as wilderness (part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.) It is Ohio’s only Wilderness Area.
--5 acres of the island including the lighthouse are managed by the U.S. Coast Guard. The lighthouse is automated and operational.
--WSI is a rookery, a place where colonial birds nest. It is the largest Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, and Black-Crowned Night Heron rookery in the U.S. Great Lakes.

Species that nest on West Sister Island include great blue herons, great egrets, black-crowned night herons, snowy egrets, double-crested cormorants, and sometimes even cattle egrets or little blue herons! The wading birds that nest on West Sister Island are quite incredible. The water right around the island is too deep for the birds to feed, so they must travel to the mainland marshes at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to hunt for food to feed their young, an 18 mile round trip!

There is also an active bald eagle nest on the south side of the island. While there is no public access on the island to protect this important nesting area, you can see the island up close on our West Sister Island Cruise.

Here's some data for the minimum and maximum nest counts for each bird species from 1991-2019.