COLUMN: Ramblings: A day at Goose Pond

My sisters and I traveled down to Greene County today for Marsh Madness. The Friends of Goose Pond have partnered with the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area for the past 17 years to organize this event. "Something for Everyone" is their motto. The two-day event signals the arrival of thousands of waterfowl in the area. Visitors can pick from a large list of things to do. Visitors can enjoy a bus tour, self-guided tours, activities for children, presentations by bird experts, meeting local artists and seeing their work, meeting other folk who enjoy the wonders of the natural world. The event is fun and educational. Today, I picked up information for a couple of future columns, including one on the invasive pest, the spotted lanternfly.

Today was a cold and windy day. We began our visit in Linton at the headquarters in the park. Several artists displayed their creations. I liked the gourds a talented woman turned into little birds. We picked up information about the Dobbs Park Nature Center in Terre Haute, whooping cranes, sandhill cranes and invasive plants. One of the highlights was our stop at the Herpetological Society's booth. They had a variety of snakes on display. My favorite was a very friendly, light orange and tan colored south-eastern corn snake. When she wrapped around my arm and peach colored sweater, her color seemed to intensify. My sister called her Tangerine and that became her name!

We headed out of town on Highway 59 under a gray sky. The ponds along the highway are dotted with dozens of muskrat homes. The small domes of sticks and mud stick out of the water surface. The wind splashes the water up to kiss the sides of the muskrat homes. I wondered if they could hear that gentle noise. We stopped at the Visitor's Center perched on a hill overlooking the marsh and several ponds. There were booths there with information and activities for children. But we came to see birds, so off we went to explore the 8,000 acres that make up the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area. I remember when many of the acres were corn fields. The crops often flooded as the land tried to return to its original marshy existence. There are still several farms in the area. Most of them are raising cattle and corn, it seems. We stopped a couple of times to talk to the cows. They don't get many visitors. My sister worked on a dairy farm for years. She loves cows and speaks their language.

Today we discovered a farmer with a great sense of humor. He had installed a huge flock of pink plastic flamingos in the corn field across the road from his farmstead. Further down the road we spotted a flock of sandhill cranes eating corn the picker missed last fall. I was hoping they would entertain us with their joyful mating dance, but they were too busy gobbling up corn. Their gray humpback silhouettes almost faded away in the gray, misty landscape. As we watched a huge flock of geese soared into view. We watched as they gracefully descended, as one big organism a half-mile away. Later we saw hundreds of snow geese floating on the silvery surface of the pond.

If you need a day away from the stress of life and want to soak up some nature, I suggest a visit to Goose Pond.

'til next time,

Annie