Bird & Nature Blog

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Goose Pond Happenings

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A report from Madison Audubon's Goose Pond Sanctuary that was sent to Wisbird (Nov. 17, 2021)

Swans:

Winter probably arrived late in North America's tundra in 2021. Usually swans migrate to Goose Pond around November 1st. The tundra swans have been in North Dakota for many weeks and headed east when winter arrived in the northern Great Plains (specifically, North Dakota). On Monday November 15th, Aaron Holschback eBirded 10 Tundra Swans. We only saw a few yesterday. On November 17th, Spike Millington reported at 10:00 a.m. 550 Tundra Swans " A big arrival, only 22 young birds." Al Roske sent us a wide angle photo taken after 11:00 a.m. and we counted 580 swans in the photo. The east pond is dry and the west pond is maybe 8 inches deep with no arrowhead tubers. The swans are feeding in the picked cornfields just like the geese. The swans like to field feed about 2.5 miles southwest of Goose Pond (southeast of the County I and Meek Road intersection). If you plan to visit Goose Pond the sooner the better to see the swans since they will leave when Goose Pond freezes up and head east to Chesapeake Bay.

Goose Pond waterfowl, photo by Al Roske

Other birds:

On November 3rd, Spike had 21 Eurasian Collared-doves. Calla Norris and Graham had a Short-eared Owl on Nov. 9th. On November 10th, Aaron counted 3,500 Canada Geese and 1,350 Mallards. Spike has had counts of around 2,000 Mallards. On Nov. 15, we counted 193 Sandhill Cranes and Spike reported 3,000 Ring-billed Gulls.

Goose Pond Sanctuary’s “Pond Cam” shows live updates on what’s happening at the pond. See for yourself at madisonaudubon.org/pond-cam

Pond Cam:

The waterfowl migration has been impressive on our "Pond Cam" and has kept Peter Leege busy moving the pond cam around for best viewing. The last hour of daylight is the best time for viewing. However, you can back the camera up for 12 hours by moving the red line to the left. The cam also has infrared and a microphone.

We invited you to visit Goose Pond any day of the week during daylight hours. Enjoy!

Written by Mark Martin, Sue Foote-Martin, Graham Steinhauer (Goose Pond Sanctuary staff/managers), JD Arnston and Peter Leege (Pond Cam volunteers), and Al Roske (photographer)

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Applesauce and Money

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Applesauce and Money

Folks facing the current state of nature sometimes face the applesauce decision: Leave nature alone and rely on its resilience… or help nature, usually by dealing with human caused problems.

Both have their place; perhaps in many wilderness settings the former course is better. Madison Audubon almost always opts for active help.

Photo by wabisabi2015 FCC

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Good news for cranes (for now)

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The bill (SB620) that proposes to legalize a Sandhill Crane hunt in Wisconsin was not moved forward for consideration in this legislative session. It has not gone away, but will be held for a future session, perhaps in January.

To those of you who contacted your legislators asking them to vote NO on this issue, THANK YOU! Your support is incredible and makes a difference.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Visitors from 9 to 99 at Otsego Marsh and Goose Pond

Dorothy Haines, a Madison Audubon member for over 50 years (recently featured in our Meet a Birder series), and eight residents of Oakwood Village East visited Goose Pond today and were greeted by thousands of waterfowl and ring-billed gulls and mid-October weather. Dorothy enjoyed stopping at the Browne Prairie and at the Kiosk.

Columbus Grade School has been frequent visitors to Goose Pond and Otsego Marsh this fall. A class visited Otsego Marsh today and as they hiked up the trail a teacher said, "We are going to see what has changed since we were here last."