Coming Home to Roost, the annual free community birding day at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area in Greene County presented by The Friends of Goose Pond, will be held at 6:30 p.m. July 11 at Pleasant Grove Farm, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said.

Goose Pond is rapidly becoming famous among state birders as a premier site in the state for waterfowl, shorebirds, and numerous rarities, including a Roseate Spoonbill first identified there on June 2. The spoonbill, a bird with absolutely no business in the State of Indiana, has lingered at Goose Pond since then, roosting with Great Egrets.

The June 2 sighting of the spoonbill is the only one ever confirmed in Indiana, confirmed being defined “as a sighting that is accompanied by verifiable photographs and other reviewable documentation.”

Scores of birders from across Indiana and a few from Illinois have made the trip to Goose Pond to get their view of the spoonbill, Property Manager Brad Feaster said.

Meanwhile, the recent Greene County Big May Day Bird Count tallied 174 species at Goose Pond. Last year those same results tied Greene County with Porter and Lake counties for the most species recorded in the state. And during the Henslow’s Sparrow survey on June 13, 192 of the globally threatened birds were documented at Goose Pond.

One other rarity: a sighting earlier this month of several Fulvous Whistling Duck, which if accepted by the Indiana Bird Records Committee would be the first record of that species in Indiana since 2002.

Coming Home to Roost is limited to 25 people. An introductory talk with ice cream and cobbler will start the evening. Call the Goose Pond property office at (812) 659-9901 to reserve a space.

Posted 6/25/2009