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.

Featured Sanctuary Bird: Rough-legged hawk

Photo by Max Rae, via Flickr Creative Commons

This week's featured sanctuary bird is the rough-legged hawk. Rough-legs are one of the few raptors with feathered legs! They are well-adapted to breeding on the tundra and wintering in open grassland areas in the United States. This large hawk, is one of the few raptors that frequently hovers in place while in the sky, watching for movement of their prey on the ground below.  

These large hawks have small feet, and come in both light and dark color phases. When in flight, black knuckle patches can be seen under the wings making the patches good field field identification marks for light phase birds. Ideal hunting conditions for rough-legged hawks are grasslands with less than a foot of snow and high populations of small mammals such as meadow voles.

Where can you catch a glimpse of this regal raptor? Four rough-legs were found at or near Goose Pond Sanctuary on the recent Poynette Christmas Bird Count. The sanctuary's open grasslands are ideal habitat for this hawk. Visitors are always welcome! The Lapinski-Kitze Prairie (at the intersection of Kampen and Goose Pond Road) is an excellent place to look for these common “open country” winter raptors.

To learn more about wildlife at Goose Pond, contact resident managers Mark and Sue Foote-Martin at goosep@madisonaudubon.org, or 608-635-4160.