Goose Pond lives up to its name with six species of geese being found yesterday. The Brant is very rare and was present at Goose Pond in April of 2000.
5 species of Geese, Brant, Ross's, Snow, Cackling, Canada; Photography by Arlene Koziol
Thanks to Arlene Koziol for the link to her geese photos from yesterday. Thanks also to Tom Erdman for identifying the Brant (photo # 6 and 10 in the link). Arlene also photographed Greater White-fronted, Snow, Ross's, Cackling, and Canada geese. What a rare treat to find and photograph all six of these species in one day at the same place! Congratulations Arlene! There have been many people out photographing geese recently and hopefully they were able to photograph the Brant.
Last night, Lester Doyle was out just before dark. Mark and Lester found five species of geese including a record 288 Ross's geese. The Brant was not seen but could have been mixed in with the 3,700 Canada geese. There were also 300 plus snow geese with blue color phase birds mixed in. Some times of the day Goose Pond contains few geese since most are out feeding. When the white geese return from feeding they are usually found resting on the far east side of the east pond. In evening, after feeding around 6:00 p.m the great majority of geese and tundra swans move to the west pond for the night. This also provides for better viewing.
Also check the other local wetlands including Schoeneberg Marsh Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) and Madison Audubon Society's Erstad Prairie on Harvey Road about three miles northeast of Goose Pond and Jackson WPA, three miles southwest of Goose Pond on Oak Lane and Patton Road. Randy Hoffman recently had 700 white-fronts in the pasture across the road from Jackson WPA.
Written by Mark and Sue Foote-Martin, Resident Managers Goose Pond Sanctuary
