Bird & Nature Blog

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Goose Pond - Mallard Pond - Swan Pond

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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!

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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Wisconsin's Birds in a Changing Climate

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Three birds, similar stories. We are in a climate crisis, and a bird emergency. Higher temperatures, more storms, changes in food supply, and more make the future for many of the world’s — and our state’s — birds look pretty grim. These three examples shed some light on the problem, and most importantly, the real, impactful things we all can do to help.

Bobolinks, scarlet tanagers, and Wisconsin’s woodpeckers need you.

Photo by Rick Kelly

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Finding New Life

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Dead things are some of my favorite teaching tools. Whether you call them study skins, specimens, or mounts, kids find them fascinating. Usually when I bring specimens into a classroom I'm met with questions. First: "is that REAL?" Then, "what IS that?!" Followed quickly by "did it used to be alive?" and "how did it die?" As I've mentioned before, I love questions like this. It’s one way I know that kids are actively engaged and learning.

Madison Audubon photo

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Kestrel Nestboxes: The Good, the Bad, and the Just Fine

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Kestrel nestboxes are busy places this time of year. Because kestrels’ nesting habitat (tree snags) has all but vanished in their range, and because they take readily to man-made and managed nestboxes, our dedicated group of Kestrel Nest Box Program volunteers are also busy this time of year checking out what’s happening in the nests!

To aid in their efforts, Madison Audubon volunteer Pat Ready created a “Guide to Kestrel Box Species” which helps monitors determine who is using the nest (because it’s not always kestrels!), and what to do about it.

Photo by Jim Stewart

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Our Pond Runneth Over

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Goose Pond is a prairie pothole, a pond that is fed only by precipitation and run-off. Because of this, Goose Pond water levels change significantly only two or three days a year after a major run-off event. But right now, we’re seeing something we’ve never seen before! Goose Pond is normally four feet deep, but today, it’s at least seven.

Deep snow cover and ice, frozen ground, rain, and high temperatures resulted in record flooding and runoff levels. There is so much water in our above-ground system that you could now kayak from Ankenbrandt Prairie (east of Goose Pond) into Lake Mendota and only have to get out to maneuver around culverts.

Photo by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin