The Ditch 40 Project (also known as the Defiance/Williams Joint Watershed Project) was only in existence one full year and the new marsh attracted Bluebirds, cormorants, both dowitchers, many kinds of ducks (Black, Ring-necked, Ruddy, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, Northern Shovelers, Pintails, Blue-winged and Green-winged, Scaups), Dunlins, Geese (including snow and white-fronted geese), gulls (Bonaparte’s, Herring, Ring-billed), Hawks (Cooper’s, Sharp-shinned, Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Harrier, Kestrel, and Peregrine falcon), Herons (Black-crowned Night-Heron, Great Blue, Green, and Great Egrets), phalaropes (Red-necked and Wilson’s), pheasants, pipits, sanderlings, sandpipers (Baird’s, Least, Pectoral, Stilt, Semipalmated, Solitary, Spotted, White-rumped), Plovers (Golden and Black-bellied), Snipes, Sparrows (Grasshopper, Savannah, Song), Swallows (Barn, Cliff, Rough-winged, Tree),Swifts, terns (Black, Caspian, Common, Forster’s), Turkeys, willets,Yellowlegs (Greater and Lesser), Yellow-rumped Warblers and best bird of all by far: an IBIS–an Ohio Review Species! The park management has done everything perfectly, even to the point of leaving grass unmowed allowing Bobolinks, Grasshopper, Savannah, Song Sparrows, and Meadowlarks a place to breed. Of course, also enjoy the extremely common birds (like Killdeers, Mallards, Canada Geese, Cowbirds, House Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Grackles, Mourning Doves, Robins, Turkey Vultures, etc), but this has turned into one of the best (and certainly one of the most easily accessible!) birding spots in our area—the only place close-by for shorebirds!

The Joint Watershed Management Project is on the north side of Township Highway 183. There is a parking lot and walking trail with views of the Prairie Creek Detention Basin.

The Joint Watershed Management Project was developed by the State of Ohio, Defiance and Williams Counties, and the City of Bryan.