Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area – November 16, 2025
On a beautiful sunny fall day, 10 participants met at the Visitor’s Center at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area to spend an afternoon and early evening searching for and enjoying the birds found in that area. Richard Garrett, the hike leader, had already spotted two Whooping Cranes for the group to get a distant view from the Visitor’s Center. While looking at those, another participant located three additional Whooping Cranes even closer. With our first five birds being Whoopers, the excitement was high for what the rest of the day could bring. One participant added “I can go home now,” having seen her target bird for the trip.
After a quick trip to Double Ditches to get another look at the Whoopers, it was on to the South Bridge where we heard a surprising Virginia Rail after just one playback. There we also had a cooperative Red-shouldered Hawk, as well as our only Sandhill Cranes of the day.
The North Bridge was our next stop. Our best bird there was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Waterfowl was not plentiful, but we managed to see eight Wood Ducks flying over. One of our “eagle-eyed” participants found our first Rusty Blackbird of the day, which was a lifer for some.
From there we drove to Farmhouse Road/BH 5. The trees were full of blackbirds upon arrival and 15 Rusty Blackbirds were logged. That was also a good spot to pick up several sparrow species including White-crowned and American Tree, as well as Swamp and Song. As the sun was getting low in the sky, we got one of our numerous Northern Harriers and a Bald Eagle flying over.
We continued on to our last stop at Bear Run Mines to search out the Short-eared Owls that frequent the area—and we weren’t disappointed. The owls put on quite a show, barking and chasing each other just as the sun was going down. Northern Harriers, including our third Gray Ghost for the day, also entertained us. We tallied eight owls and six harriers for the evening. The owls were life birds for some participants which is always fun to share.
A big thank you goes to Richard Garrett for leading us for the day and helping us to get some wonderful birds. The group enjoyed some great camaraderie as well.