This season at the sanctuaries (Autumn 2025): learn what’s been going on behind the scenes, who you can expect to find when you visit, and how to get involved in the coming few months!
photo by Gary Shackelford
Help gather Milkweed seeds: Fall 2025!
Milkweeds are the host plant for monarch caterpillars, making them essential for healthy monarch populations. This fall, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance and in particular our staff at Goose Pond Sanctuary have established a goal for volunteers to collect 100 pounds of pure, live milkweed seed for the butterflies, and we need your help!
The primary focus is on common, butterfly, whorled, and swamp (red) milkweed seeds.
SoWBA photo
Who's That Singing? Chimney Swift
Early September is a fabulous time to listen for Chimney Swifts, as they are migrating in full force from the US (including Wisconsin) to the Amazon basin in South America. During this time, Chimney Swifts will form big flocks at sunset through dusk, swirling around in a tornado of birds above a big chimney. Eventually they drop in and cling to the inside of the chimney, where they sleep for the night. It’s an amazing sight to behold, and full of the most adorable Chimney Swift twittering noises you can imagine! It’s so fun to watch, events called Swift Night Out are held around the country, including in Wisconsin.
Photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA
Goose Pond Sanctuary Update, September 2025
Swift Night Out 2025 will feature *4 special guests*
This year, Swift Night Out will be held on Saturday, September 6, 6-8PM. The location, as always, is to be determined by the swifts as they choose which chimney they prefer to roost in this migration season. Each year the event is a little bit different, and this year, we are thrilled to partner with Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center to release back into the wild four healthy Chimney Swifts they have rehabilitated! Read more about this effort below, and join us on Sept. 6!
Photo by Sandy Schwab
