We first recorded Bald Eagles nesting at Fair Meadows in 2010, and it has been monitored as part of Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Bald Eagle Nest Watch program since 2019.
Photo by Gary Shackelford
Eaglets take to the skies
Once again, Bald Eagle nests are mostly empty, but so much has happened in the months in between! Adults have bonded, remodeled or rebuilt nests, copulated, laid eggs, and kept them warm through storms, cold snaps, and lean times. Those eggs have hatched, with gray bobble-headed eaglets emerging, eventually growing taller, stronger, more coordinated, and darker. One day, they summon their courage and take their first flight.
Photo by David Stank
Eagle Entanglement
Bald Eagle
The popular Manthe spruce tree. Photo by Monica Hall
On a recent October morning, the sky above the west pond was full of hundreds of Canada geese and mallards. What would cause the birds to flush like that? Mark had a hunch, and sure enough, shortly after that a bald eagle was spotted flying over the pond hoping to capture a meal.
Shortly after that, we drove along Goose Pond Road and saw all the birds back in the water or loafing on top of the muskrat houses, along with an adult bald eagle that was also perched on a muskrat house. The eagle took off when we backed up the truck to position ourselves for a photo opp, and came to rest high atop a spruce tree in the Manthe farm yard located just north of Goose Pond.
A visit from a top predator can clear the waters of Goose Pond quickly. Photo by Richard Armstrong
Rewind to the fall of 2013 when a pair of eagles frequently flushed and hunted 3,000 migrating American coots at Goose Pond. They probably caught a few muskrats to eat as well. Shortly after the pond iced over, the eagles broke off dead sapling cottonwoods and took them to the red-tailed hawk nest they took over, located in a spruce tree at the Manthe yard... yes, the same one we saw the eagle land on that morning four years later.
The adults worked on the nest for about three weeks that year. Then in 2014 they abandoned that nest and have nested every year about three miles north of Goose Pond. The adults still visit and hunt at Goose Pond, and even visit the spruce trees in our yard. It is great to be able to see our national symbol in southern Wisconsin, especially during the nesting season.
The family home. Photo by Arlene Koziol
Nesting bald eagles in southern Wisconsin have not always been so common. Sam Robbins wrote in the 1991 Wisconsin Birdlife that eagles were uncommon resident in north and central Wisconsin, and no mention was made of nesting eagles in southern Wisconsin. Kumlien and Hollister observed a decline in the eagles nesting in southern Wisconsin around the end of the nineteen century as settlement increased.
Robbins wrote that the low point for the eagle population was in the 1960’s with the cause being the widespread use of DDT. From the 1960s to 1990 populations slowly rose. In 1989 the bald eagle was moved from state-endangered to state-threatened. Currently the bald eagle is listed as a species of special concern, the least concerning status of the three.
In the first breeding bird atlas (1995 – 2000), there was one nesting pair on the Pine Island State Wildlife Area in Columbia County near Portage.
A perched baldie looking quite stately. Photo by Monica Hall
Now after the third year of the Breeding Bird Atlas II, we have records of 15 nesting pairs in Columbia County. The most unusual location is in a three-acre woodland adjacent to a farmette surrounded by cropland, about 10 miles east of Goose Pond Sanctuary and one mile from the Crawfish River. However, at that location the Crawfish River is very narrow and its banks are lined with brush – not ideal fishing habitat. It is quite possible that those eagles are making a living feeding on road kill, especially deer, raccoons, and opossums.
Thanks to the photographers that provided the beautiful photos, and hopefully you will observe these photogenic birds this fall at Goose Pond. The Sanctuary is free and open to all during daylight hours.
By Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers
Featured Sanctuary Bird: Bald Eagle
Juvenile bald eagle photo by Arlene Koziol
This winter, thousands of bald eagles can be found fishing around dams in open water along the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. Many of these eagles are from northern Wisconsin, Minnesota or Canada. However, some bald eagles in southern Wisconsin are sticking aroud - setting up territories and nests.
At Goose Pond Sanctuary, a pair of bald eagles took over a red-tailed hawk nest located on top of a spruce tree in the yard of Roland and Lynn Manthe, 100 yards north of Goose Pond (see map). The eagles have been adding sticks to the nest and are frequently seen in the area.
Though Bald Eagles were once endangered by hunting and pesticides, they now are flourishing under protection. They are often soaring in solitude, chasing other birds for their food.
Bird watchers and photographers are welcome to visit the pair near Goose Pond, but we ask that a few guidelines be followed to keep the eagles comfortable: Please do not park near the nesting area - A small pull-off can be found on the east side of Goose Pond Road where the road intersects the pond. Please use your car as a blind as walking up to the nest will likely result in the eagles abandoning the nest. Your cooperation is appreciated!
Please contact Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers, Mark and Sue Foote-Martin with questions: goosep@madisonaudubon.org, 608-635-4160.
Can't get enough of eagles? Swing by our booth at Eagle Watching Days on Saturday, Jan. 18, or join us in Spring Green for our Eagle Roost Count on Sunday, Jan. 26! Learn more about the birds of Madison Audubon Sanctuaries in our featured archive.
