Critter Corner

Goose Pond FWA often hosts creatures that attract special attention. There are the annual visits of sandhill and whooping cranes for example. Deer and upland game seasons draw hundreds of hunters to the area. The arrival of long-distance migrants such as the shorebirds and the biannual influx of waterfowl attract scores of wildlife watchers. But…

Let me introduce to you a member of the Goose Pond FWA biota that I find fascinating in a variety of ways. It isn’t likely that the eastern box turtle would be the first animal you would think of as a Goose Pond resident. After all, it isn’t a marshland animal. Besides that, it is…

Now that we’ve introduced the red fox, it’s only fair to spotlight its close relative—the gray fox. Weighing 10–12 pounds and measuring about three feet long, Urocyon cinereoargenteus is a small canid that favors brushy or wooded habitats over the more open areas preferred by the red fox. Given this habitat preference, it is perhaps…

Once home to five* species of canids, Indiana now has viable populations of three: the coyote (Critter Corner No. 12), the red fox, and the gray fox. All of these may find a home within the diverse habitats of Goose Pond FWA. Both the gray wolf** and the red wolf were gone from Indiana by…

The assemblage of bird species which make Goose Pond FWA their home, either permanently or seasonally, is remarkable. There are secretive rails, stealthy grassland sparrows, impressive numbers of migratory waterfowl, raptors such as owls and hawks, and a menagerie of passerines. And let’s not forget the bird that inspired the Friends’ annual Marsh Madness Festival,…

In previous Critter Corner episodes, I’ve referred to the fact that Goose Pond FWA is home to countless small, often unseen, but ecologically important animals. To that list, I now add the humble crayfish. To the casual observer, crayfish (there are many species) may seem no more than a bottom-feeding scavenger, or a candidate for…

Pelicans in Indiana? Surely not. Pelicans live near the ocean, don’t they? If you have visited Goose Pond FWA in the spring or fall, you more than likely know that yes, pelicans do indeed visit our state. But first, let’s clarify the story. In North America there are two endemic species of pelicans. One, the…

If asked to do so, we can often identify an ecosystem simply by seeing a photo of one of its iconic animal inhabitants. Example? A polar bear would surely bring thoughts of the tundra to mind. Seeing a Malayan tapir would just as assuredly elicit images of the steamy southeast Asian rainforest. Similarly, the American…

While birds may lay claim to the “star power” at Goose Pond FWA, let’s remind ourselves that there is a whole world of smaller animals, many of which lack a backbone, that are of major ecological importance there. Let us focus on one group of invertebrate animals which most people look at with fear, revulsion,…