Goose Pond: then and now

Forty-one years ago when Mark and Sue moved to Goose Pond, there were only paper records of bird observations by “regular birders” and observations recorded in our personal journals. Today we are very fortunate to work at the computer where we check out Wisconsin eBird reports that are updated immediately, that include a “hotspot” for Goose Pond Sanctuary observations. We explored 2019 Wisconsin eBird observations for Goose Pond and examined our journal entries from November - December 11 for 1979.

Goose Pond, 2017, photo by Arlene Koziol

Then: Journal Entries from November - December 11, 1979

In 1979 Madison Audubon only owned 100 acres at Goose Pond that included the west pond and very little upland cover. Hunters hunted for pheasants along the railroad tracks and frequently shot adjacent to boundary mostly for waterfowl. Before freeze up on November 30th, the high count that month was only 50 Canada geese and 42 tundra swans. Geese and swans required larger refuge areas than mallards that could fly in high and land in the middle of the pond. Sue and Mark counted 4,925 mallards on November 9th returning to Goose Pond the last hour of daylight!

Other interesting entries include:

• an observation of nine gray partridge (Hungarian partridge or huns) along Goose Pond Road. The last huns were seen in 2000.

• On November 28 when the pond was almost frozen, Mark picked up a dead tundra swan that was frozen in the ice and shot a hen mallard that was walking around in tight circles. Lab results did not confirm any disease problems with both birds.

• We also learned that month that an old squaw (a long-tailed duck) was seen by Bill Smith and Frank Freese the last week of October.

Now: Field Observations and Reports from eBird, 2019

In October of 2019 we received 6.5 inches of snow that forced many birds to migrate south. Goose Pond froze over November 12 following record lows of 1 degree on November 8 and 12. However, highs were in the 40s by the 16th and the pond reopened. The pond finally froze over for a second time on Dececember 10.

Thirty-five bird watchers submitted 38 Wisconsin eBird checklists for 25 days from November 1 to December 11. In total, the birders reported 54 species and JD Arnston and the three of us recorded high counts for tundra swans (2,600), mallards (12,500) and sandhill cranes (733). Most visitors birded from Prairie Lane or Goose Pond Road and concentrated on waterbirds. Some birders commented that there were “thousands of birds” or “too many to count”.

A pond bursting with life! Photo by Monica Hall, December 2019

The 54 species reported are (species also seen in 1979 are in bold): snow goose, Ross’s goose, greater white-fronted goose, cackling goose, Canada goose (high of 3,800), mute swan (1 and uncommon in Wisconsin), trumpeter swan (high of 8), tundra swan (record count on Dec. 2), blue-winged teal (late observation of 3 on Nov. 3), northern shoveler, gadwall, American wigeon, mallard (record count on Dec. 1), American black duck (high of 22 but probably many more in mixed in with the mallards on Dec. 1), northern pintail, green-winged teal, canvasback (60 on Nov. 3), redhead (45 on Nov. 3), ring-necked duck (150 on Nov. 3), lesser scaup (35 on Nov. 3), bufflehead, common goldeneye (20 on Nov. 9), hooded merganser, common merganser, ruddy duck (40 on Nov. 3), ring-necked pheasant, pied-billed grebe, horned grebe (very good find on Nov. 1), rock pigeon, mourning dove, American coot (122 on Nov. 1), sandhill crane (record count of 733 in migration on Dec. 2), ring-billed gull (142 on Nov. 26), great blue heron, great egret (late record of 1 on Nov. 9), northern harrier, bald eagle (reported 1 or 2 adults on 10 days), red-tailed hawk, American kestrel, northern shrike (Dec. 5), blue jay, American crow (91 on Nov. 9), horned lark, European starling, American robin (3 on Nov. 13), American pipit (22 on Nov. 1), house finch, American goldfinch, Lapland longspur, snow bunting, American tree sparrow, dark-eyed junco, red-winged blackbird (21 on Nov. 5), and northern cardinal.

Swan counts at Goose Pond, November and December 2019, graph by Graham Steinhauer

In early December 2019, we wrote about having “tons” of waterfowl on the pond. Here are our tabulations: 2,600 tundra swans @ 15 pounds each = 19.6 tons, 3,800 Canada geese @ 8.6 pounds each = 16.3 tons, 12,500 mallards @ 2.2 pounds each = 13.8 tons, and 733 sandhill cranes were seen in migration heading southeast - 733 @ 9.5 pounds each = 3.5 tons. Grand total = 53 tons of wetland birds!

The snowy owl reported in Columbia County, December 2019. Photo by Arlene Koziol

In addition, if you check out recent Wisconsin eBird sightings you will notice that Graham reported with a photo of a snowy owl near UW - Arlington Research Farms. Thanks to the their staff for calling us about the owl.

We and many others also report observations to Wisconsin Birding Network - wisbirdn@freelists.org. The American Birding Association catalogs birding related news on the easy to use website. You can submit sightings, take bird quizzes, and see what’s happening in Wisconsin and other states by visiting this website. You can also subscribe to their email list by following the link above, and clicking on “How do I subscribe to a list?”

Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers, and Graham Steinhauer, land steward

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned kinglet, photo by Jim Stewart

The Golden-crowned kinglet, an active little bird weighing in at six ounces, seems an unlikely resident of the boreal forests of the north. The bird will even overwinter as far north as Alaska and Nova Scotia, and small numbers spend the winter in Wisconsin.

To accomplish this, the kinglet employs a number of adaptations that are advantageous in cold climates. First, the bird's feathers comprise about 8% of its body weight, which helps with insulation. For context, that's about the same percentage of insulation that an arctic explorer might wear. Second, the bird expends almost 100% of its energy budget towards foraging during the winter months. Staying active and maintaining caloric needs helps the golden-crowned kinglet to maintain its internal body temperature of 110 degrees. Third, flocks of birds will group together at night, finding refuge in wind-breaking conifers, and huddling together for warmth. These kinglets are also known to hop into squirrel nests in trees as an added measure of insulation.

One might ask why these adaptations confer any advantage to the kinglet. For a kinglet, or any bird, a rainstorm followed by freezing weather amounts to dangerous conditions. The issue of thermal insulation is a problem for birds generally, since most birds must face the elements, which is why we see about three quarters of bird species leave Wisconsin each winter. Those that stay are often able to modify their environment or seek shelter in some way—woodpeckers in a cavity or ruffed grouse burrowed into a heap of snow. Kinglet’s flight feathers shed water, and are arranged in such a way that might allow the kinglet to protect its downy feathers during a storm.

Golden-crowned kinglet, photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Also, what exactly are kinglets eating? Bernd Heinrich set out into the Maine winter to find out answers to these questions. First, he obtained permits to collect shot kinglets and analyze their gizzard contents. What he found surprised him—caterpillars!

How were kinglets eating caterpillars in the dead of winter, and what species? Heinrich went around with graduate students and a sturdy pole, and whacked maples, hemlocks, and spruces, and they analyzed the contents that dropped out of the trees. They found numerous caterpillars, and after several unsuccessful attempts, reared a one-spotted variant moth, Hypagyrstis unipunctata, which was previously unknown to northern climates. Thus, it appears caterpillars fuel at least a large portion of the kinglet’s insatiable diet.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

A rare winter resident in Wisconsin, about 250 golden-crowned kinglets are seen during the Christmas Bird Counts in Wisconsin each year. According to research from UW-Madison, contiguous patches of upland forested habitat, or forested habitat near urban areas, may assist the thermal capacity of birds like kinglets to withstand cold temperatures, as the birds can experience die offs at -40 degrees Celsius.

However, golden-crowned kinglets have experienced range expansions over past few decades, and breeders can be found in spruce plantations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland. In Wisconsin, the second Breeding Bird Atlas has confirmed golden-crowned kinglets in the southern Kettle Moraine in Waukesha County conifer plantations, very disjunct from their typical breeding range in northern Wisconsin. It is possible that there are breeders in Jefferson County tamarack swamps, which once covered about 20% of the county, and which are incredibly difficult to access when the ground is not frozen.

Golden-crowned kinglets have a steady population continent-wide and in Wisconsin, and throughout the eastern US they have experienced population increases and range expansions into the aforementioned areas.

Two years ago at Faville Grove we saw about a half dozen golden-crowned kinglets during the Birdathon, on May 14. Typically golden-crowned kinglets will have migrated through by then, as they're early spring, late fall migrants—with the last of the birds settling into Wisconsin in the past few weeks.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Wings over Water - IMAX Production Comes to Goose Pond Sanctuary

We were contacted by Archipelago Films, of New York, to discuss the idea of their company filming wetlands and migrating birds at Goose Pond as part of an IMAX production they were filming. We welcomed the opportunity to learn more about the production that would contain footage of the property and have the chance to work with this enthusiastic and professional group of filmmakers. Here is a trailer for Wings over Water, to be released in 2021 and narrated by actor Michael Keaton.

The film crew would be with us for three days and on Sunday night, October 27, three crew members from Archipelago Films arrived at the house. Director and co-founder of Archipelago Films Andrew Young, Assistant Camera technician Brandon Sargeant, and Office PA Rebecca Markowitz, arrived at Goose Pond and were later joined by Juan Romaro from Sylvan Heights Bird Park in North Carolina. We helped them unpack and get organized for the next days filming and at 10:20 pm, they left for at the Arlington Inn where they enjoyed good food at the end of the Packer game.

On Monday, the crew was joined by Neil Rettig and Dr. Laura Johnson with Neil Rettig Productions (see bottom of post for more info on Neil and Laura), and Steve Gruskin, Line Producer with Archipelago Films. They began the day by assessing the wetlands and made plans for filming. A boat and two canoes were moved to the wetland edge where they would be used to transport the crew out over the water. Once set up they filmed cranes and mallards.

Preparing for launch takes a little longer with all this equipment! Photo by Arlene Koziol

Tuesday morning, the crew arrived early to find three inches of snow and about 500 Canada geese south of the barn. Andy set up his camera by the seed building and Neil filmed by the milkhouse. They were rewarded with excellent slow motion footage when the entire flock of geese flew past. John MacGillivary from Dorsey Pictures and Arlene Koziol, Madison Audubon volunteer and conservation photographer, arrived and were there to shoot behind the scenes photos and footage of the filmers. Arlene produced a wonderful photo collection and a video:

Photos and film from the filming of “Wings over Water” — Goose Pond Sanctuary segment, fall 2019. By Arlene Koziol

To increase the playback quality of this video, click the gear button and choose 1080pHD; click the box symbol to the right for full-screen viewing.

The wetland scrapes provided a beautiful setting for the mallard ducks needed for the film. Goose Pond is a prairie pothole wetland and this type of habitat is featured in Wings over Water. Mark learned from Andrew Young that Wings over Water is a major entertainment and educational effort with a focus on the species and prairie pothole ecosystem, and not on land preservation, threats, or hunting. Rather, the film tells the story of three wetland species: yellow warbler, sandhill crane, and mallard duck. The filmmakers follow the family groups as they return from southern wintering grounds to nest and raise the next generation of the species.

After finishing filming south of the barn, everyone then moved to the Lapinski-Kitzke Prairie for the filming of two sandhill cranes who seemed to enjoy the snow-covered landscape. Sue scouted by car for a flock of cranes that she had been seeing over the past couple of weeks, foraging in a soybean field about five miles east of Goose Pond. The day ended with Mark and Andrew heading back to Sue’s crane flock which had greatly dwindled in numbers and was too far from the road for the cameras to capture.

A sandhill crane frolicks in the snowy cornfield near Goose Pond during the “Wings over Water” shoot. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Wednesday was spent filming more cranes and mallards landing and taking off. By midday the weather forecast for Thursday was for snow, cold, and strong winds. Andrew announced a change of plans and the crew would stay and extra day to film on Thursday. This was an excellent chance to film cranes, mallards, geese, and tundra swan in harsh, early winter weather that causes some species to migrate south.

Thursday’s weather was just as predicted. It was cold, snowy, and blustery. Everyone was prepared with warm clothes, foot and hand warmers, hot coffee, hot chocolate and snacks. The crew focused on their job and shouldered through. By early afternoon, they wrapped by filming more cranes and mallards. Andrew did an interview for Dorsey Pictures while Mark and Neil headed to Goose Pond Road to film Canada geese and tundra swans.

Welcome to Wisconsin! Filmmakers put on a good face filming during a fall snow. Photo by Mark Martin

After filming the geese and swans Mark and Neil returned to the “crane field” that Sue located on Tuesday and were rewarded with finding 550 sandhill cranes, along with Canada geese, and mallards. They secured some footage of the flocks but not close ups and Andrew said let’s call it a day. Mark and Neil were the first to leave and were rewarded when finding cranes and geese very close to the road. Mark drove and Neil filmed from inside the van with the expensive Red camera securely fastened floor. Neil photographed cranes landing, dancing, and taking off with occasional geese in the footage.  

We ate lunch at 3:00 p.m. and Andrew mentioned that they did not know where to film after leaving Goose Pond, and that perhaps they could drive to North Dakota where another film crew was filming waterfowl or find a large number of cranes. Sue mentioned that Crex Meadows in Burnett County is the place to go for sandhills and we put in a call to Steve Hoffman, former Arlington resident and DNR Wildlife Supervisor for the Burnett County Wildlife Areas. Steve informed us that there were currently 14,000 cranes staging at Crex and so that became their next destination. We heard from Andrew the next day that they connected with the birds and were getting good pictures.

A major partner to the venture, Ducks Unlimited’s CEO Adam Putnam, had this to say about Wings over Water: “North America’s Prairie Pothole Region is a top conservation priority area for our organization. We immediately saw the need to partner on this film to help educate the public on the region’s critical importance to waterfowl, other bird species and wildlife in general. When people of all ages and from all walks of life watch this film, they will have a better understanding of why we all must work together to conserve the Prairie Pothole Region to benefit waterfowl, other wildlife, people and communities across the continent.”

DU is also working in conjunction with the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation of Illinois and other donors to produce Wings Over Water. 

Check out the Archipelago Films trailer for Backyard Wilderness completed in 2018.

The Rest of the Story 

When John MacGillivary introduced himself to us he said he was from Montana and was working for Dorsey Pictures and Chris Dorsey who is the Executive Producer for Wings over Wetlands. Mark ask him if Chris grew up in Wisconsin and John replied yes, and that Chris and his wife are the head of Dorsey Pictures headquartered in Denver, the largest producer of outdoor history films in North America.  

What a small world. Chris grew up in DeForest! We recently spoke with him and asked how he became interested in the natural resource field. He mentioned that he had two teachers that sparked his interest including Biology Teacher, Darrell Potter, past MAS Board member who brought his students including Chris to Goose Pond Sanctuary. Chris then mentioned that he had also met a “young couple” (Mark & Sue) who were the resident managers at Goose Pond Sanctuary and that he came to know us. He frequently visited Goose Pond with his English setter looking to see pheasants.

Chris is the youngest of nine siblings and grew up hunting and fishing with the family. He spent many days hunting ducks in the local marshes including Schoeneberg Marsh and hunting Canada geese in picked cornfields near Goose Pond. He later wrote Pheasant Days and 150 Waterfowling Tips, Tactics, and Tales.

Chris worked for Ducks Unlimited (DU) as head of their Media and Marketing Section. After leaving DU he and his wife Amy formed a media company, now called Dorsey Pictures.

In 2018, Chris attended a waterfowl conference coordinated by the Max McGraw Foundation. Chris and Charlie Potter, CEO of the Max McGraw Foundation, spoke about the need to celebrate and create awareness of the prairie pothole ecosystem and hatched the idea of Wings over Water. Chris enjoyed telling us that Susan Todd, Co-founder of Archipelago Films, reported that Laura and Neil had found a beautiful prairie pothole to film at in southern Wisconsin. Chris asked where the wetland was and she said it was Goose Pond Sanctuary near Arlington, where Chris first experienced a prairie pothole. A small world indeed!

On-site with the Archipelago Films crew at Goose Pond, fall 2019. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Wings over Water will be shown in super IMAX theaters in 2021, conventional IMAX theaters found at venues like museums, and finally will be released to Netflix and local theaters.

Thanks to Graham Steinhauer, Jean Trager, Rachel Barker, and Calla Norris from Goose Pond Sanctuary for helping out.

Written by Mark and Sue Foote Martin, Resident Managers  with photos and filming by Arlene Koziol, MAS Volunteer Conservation Photographer 

Cover photo by Arlene Koziol

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NEIL RETTIG, Wildlife Cinematographer

Neil Rettig is a world renowned 6-time Emmy Award winning cinematographer with over 40 years experience filming rare and endangered species world wide. Over the past four decades, Rettig has contributed to the production of hundreds of films, including IMAX Productions, National Geographic Specials, and Science Documentaries. His knowledge of raptors, especially the rare forest Eagles, has resulted in scientific publications and a greater understanding of critically endangered species such as the Philippine and Harpy Eagles. Neil’s fieldwork has been instrumental in the conservation of rare and threatened animals, the establishment of protected ecosystems around the world, and breeding projects for endangered species. Neil has been acclaimed for his creative eye, artistic composition, lightning fast ability to capture the moment, and intimacy with the subject.

DR. LAURA JOHNSON, Expedition Coordinator

Laura Johnson is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with over 30 years of experience. She’s fiercely passionate about raptors and has spent most of that time focused on birds of prey– as an avian vet and licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Today Laura splits her time between the veterinary office, assisting Neil on film shoots and expeditions, and caring for the birds and animals at her farm in Wisconsin.

Blue Jay

The phrase “naked as a jaybird” refers to something especially bared, and morphed from the original phrase “naked as a robin.” Blue jays are born without many feathers, naked, one might say. As the phrase morphed, so too did the preceding adjective, growing to include crazy, mean, and saucy as a jaybird. The slight is obvious in calling someone “crazy as a jaybird,” but the slight to the blue jay might be overlooked. With a reputation that precedes them, blue jays are often scorned by birders who call them thugs and overly aggressive at feeders.

Blue jays at feeder, photo by Jo Zimny Photos

Indeed, blue jays have been found to ransack the nests of other songbirds. At feeders, jays have been known to mimic the call of red-shouldered hawks, perhaps to scare other songbirds into thinking a raptor is near. They'll steal feed from squirrels, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, but it is a rather uncommon occurrence.

Blue jays are opportunistic. A majority of their diet consists of acorns, nuts, seeds, grains, and fruits. Insects become an important part of their diet during the breeding season. However, the birds do eat a broad diet including frogs, toads, bird eggs, nestlings, and rarely roadkill or deceased animals.

These birds belong to the corvid family, and accordingly are incredibly smart. Researchers trapping and marking blue jays have difficulty catching the same bird twice. Captive jays have used instruments to pull food from outside a cage to within it. Some blue jays have remarkably learned to pluck ants from a hill, wiping the formic acid of the ants onto their breasts and making the ants digestible. Additionally, blue jays will cache anywhere from 3,000-5,000 acorns each year—relocating a good majority of those acorns.

Oak savanna, photo by Joshua Mayer

Hugely important to the ecosystems of oak savannas and oak woodlands, blue jays have been considered a keystone species for the role they play in dispersing the acorns of oak trees.  If each bird “forgets” 5% of its crop, then an oak savanna will nevertheless have thousands of germinating oaks each year. Another mark of genius for blue jays is that they've been shown to discern fertile acorns with 88% accuracy. Other acorns may be infested with fungus, rust, or the acorn weevil, which lays eggs inside the growing acorn that will feed its larvae, which will eventually use long snouts to burrow a hole out of the acorn.

Photo by Stan Lupo

While oak trees arguably have their own role as a keystone species—allowing sunshine into the understory, fueling fire with combustible leaves, and providing food (acorns) for 150 species of birds and mammals—blue jays are bolted to that same role. Jays allow oak dispersal to an astounding level, as the birds will carry acorns over 2.5 miles away from the source tree.  In fact, after the last ice age, oak species dispersed into glacier-torn areas faster than wind dispersed seeds. It is thought that this is due to the dispersing behavior of blue jays.

“What about squirrels?” you might be asking. Squirrels also play an important role, but their dispersal is not as impressive as a blue jay's. The cached acorns of squirrels are most likely to be found within feet of the source tree. However, squirrels play a dynamic role in shaping the composition of the forest or savanna trees. Squirrels prefer to cache red and black oak nuts, while they prefer to eat white and bur oak nuts. This is because the red and black oak nuts are loaded with tannins, and store better for long periods. White oak acorns germinate in the fall and therefore don't keep as well as the red oak acorns. With fewer tannins, squirrels consume white oak treats immediately, and don't cache as many acorns from those white oak species. Even when white oaks are cached, the embryo is often excised.

Thus, blue jays may help to spread white and bur oak trees since they pick out fertile acorns and often find suitable sites for these acorns while burying them with a small amount of substrate. One study found that blue jays cached 55% of the acorns in a given area, while eating another 20% while they were gathering. Another interesting adaption from the blue jay is its ability to move multiple acorns per trip. The bird accomplishes this by storing some acorns in its “gular pouch” which can hold 2-3 acorns, stroring one or two in its mouth, and storing one on the tip of its beak.

Photo by Monica Hall

Blue jays live monogamous lives and run complex social circles throughout the year. It is thought that some birds recognize each other based on the markings of the face. Jays can be found in most forested habitats throughout Wisconsin, especially somewhere with oak trees. Here at Faville Grove, you can find these fascinating birds throughout the sanctuary, but they've been especially abundant in the ledge savanna where they've been plucking acorns.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Cedar Grove turns 70

I have been lucky to have been involved with Cedar Grove Hawk Research Station State Natural Area since 1985 when I worked with the DNR State Natural Areas program. It seems like only a few years ago that Cedar Grove turned 60 years old when Paul Smith, Outdoor Writer for the Journal Sentinel wrote an article on their first 60 years. 

Since retiring in 2011, I have helped lead annual Natural Resource Foundation tours to Cedar Grove. On October 10, I was outside of the banding building with six people on a Natural Resources Foundation tour and was surprised to see Paul Smith walk up to us. The first thing he said was, “I just heard a merlin.” A tour visitor replied, “We just released a merlin.” Paul is visiting the research station on three days this year and is planning to write an article on Cedar Grove turning 70.

Photo provided by Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station

Dan Berger and Helmut Mueller started the banding station in 1950 and caught two red-tails that year. Dan passed away in 2018 and Helmut and Nancy now visit for only a day.

The oldest bander at the station now is John Bowers, 82 from Cedar Grove, who has been volunteering for the past 31 years. When he greets an old visitor he always says, “I have not seen you since the last time I saw you.”  John arrives every day from August 15 to November 15 at noon and heads home after supper. Besides trapping and banding, he enters all the banding data on the “confuser” (computer). In the past 30 years John has volunteered on about 2,670 days and has only missed 30 days.

Tom Meyer and Rick Hill now supervise the banding with two interns this year, Savanna Steward from California and Danny Erickson from Waukesha County, along with many dedicated volunteers.  

This year Tom Meyer reported that Cedar Grove has three records or highlights for 2019: In addition to turning 70, they banded their 44,000th raptor, and now have HOT WATER!

Last year 685 raptors were banded. When I spoke with Rick Hill on November 7, they were banding a northern goshawk, the 700th bird of the year and the third goshawk of the morning. Banding highlights this year included banding a Swainson’s hawk and a broad-winged hawk. Normally broad-wings feed on small mammals, amphibians, and insects. Few saw-whet owls were caught this year due to the many nights of rain when they closed the mist needs. Running totals for this fall include Sept. 27, - 300 birds banded, Oct. 8 - 400, Oct. 16 - 487, and Oct. 26 - 600.

Check out the Cedar Grove Facebook page that includes information on birds banded at Cedar Grove and recovered another year at Cedar Grove or at other locations. Steve and Laura Holzman with Fish and Wildlife Service from the state of Oregon spend a week of their vacation every year at Cedar Grove banding raptors. They complied the species recovery maps.

Map provided by Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station

Graham Steinhauer, Brand Smith and I were visiting the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory a few miles south of the banding station and stopped in to say hi. Graham was handed a red-tail to release and John Bowers then informed us they were closing the road to remove ash trees and if we did not leave in five minutes, the private access road would be blocked for five hours.

Red-tailed hawk, photo by Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele won the “door prize” at the Goose Pond Volunteer Picnic, which was a visit for two to Cedar Grove. On October 16th Tim and Linda Eisele, Jim Otto, and I headed to Cedar Grove. The winds were out of the northwest, the ideal direction; however, the wind gusted over 20 miles per hour and the strong winds impacted the number of birds coming in. About 340 hawks passed over the banding station that day and only 16 were captured; 10 red-tails, 5 sharp-shins, and 1 Cooper's hawk. Usually they catch 10 percent of the birds they see. A merlin came in and perched 25 yards from the banding site. I thought this would be an easy one to catch, but the merlin had just caught a song bird and was not interested in being banded. On October 23, they counted 400 raptors flying past and 43 left with with “jewelry” leg bands.

On October 25, Brand Smith, our American Kestrel volunteer coordinator, took our bird volunteers Dory Owen, Mary Manering, and Sharon Weisenberger to spend some time at Cedar Grove. They had a great time and released three red-tails and five sharp-shin hawks. It is amazing to see the birds coming in at a high rate of speed, the banding operation, the small field station, and visiting with the banders.

Mary Manering watching Brand Smith releasing a red-tailed hawk. Photo by Dory Owen

Mary Manering ready to release a sharp-shinned hawk. Photo by Dory Owen

Savanna, a Cedar Grove intern, ready to release a red-tailed hawk. Photo by Dory Owen

Sharon Weisenberger holding a sharp-shinned hawk. Photo by Dory Owen

Check out Jacqueline Komada’s Friday Feathered Feature post from last year on Cedar Grove.

My best day at Cedar Grove was on a Natural Resources Foundation field trip last year. It was a busy day for everyone. My “job” was to record the banding data in the record book. When we left at 5:00 p.m., 312 hawks were spotted and 56 were banded. Birds seen (and banded) included northern harriers 4 (0); bald eagle 1 (0); sharp-shinned hawk 160 (42); Cooper’s hawk 9 (2); red-tailed hawk 7 (1); merlins 128 (11)  and peregrine falcon 1 (0).  

Cedar Grove Research Station is not a membership organization but receives donations to pay the interns and operate the station. Mist nets are expense and only last a few years. They have over $3,000 of mist nets up every day.

If you would like to visit Cedar Grove, check out the Natural Resource Foundation field trips.  We anticipate heading over to Cedar Grove one or two days with Madison Audubon volunteers/members in the future. If you have questions about Cedar Grove, call Mark at 608-333-9645 or email him at goosep@madisonaudubon.org.

Written by Mark Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary Co-Manager