An abundance of waterfowl on Goose Pond. Photo by Arlene Koziol
On December 1st, Mark Martin and JD Arnston counted 12,500 mallards, 3,800 Canada geese, and 23 tundra swans at Madison Audubon's Goose Pond. The previous high mallard count was 5,000 mallards by John Romano on November 11, 2010. On December 2nd, Graham Steinhauer and Mark counted 1,149 tundra swans at Goose Pond breaking Carl Schwartz's record of 1,100 set on November 9, 2017. In early afternoon, Mark found a picked cornfield with 1,560 swans about 2.5 miles southwest of Goose Pond. The swans were about .5 miles from Meek Road and Highway I in the middle of about 600 acres of picked corn. Mark returned to Goose Pond and counted 1,050 swans on the pond. Graham watched the swans from the cornfield return to Goose Pond near dusk. The afternoon all time high record was 2,610 tundra swans!
Many people frequently tell us "we saw a ton of birds at Goose Pond". Today this is an understatement. Actually one could see 53 tons of birds at Goose Pond. The 2,610 tundra swans @ 15 pounds each = 19.6 tons, 3,800 Canada geese @ 8.6 pounds each = 16.3 tons, 12,500 mallards @ 2.2 pounds each = 13.8 tons, and 733 sandhill cranes were seen in migration heading southeast - 733 @ 9.5 pounds each = 3.5 tons. Grand total = 53 tons of waterfowl!
Photo by Arlene Koziol
Photo by Arlene Koziol
If you plan to come to view the birds, be prepared to move around the area in your car to view the waterfowl as they forage in the picked cornfields. Check back at the pond from time to time as the birds go out often to feed or conduct exercise flights and are not present in high numbers all of the time. If you see people trespassing kindly remind them that they should bird watch from the roads. The birds should remain until the pond and wetlands freeze up or the picked cornfields are covered with snow.
Written by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers, and Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Sanctuary land steward
