Goose Pond to be featured at banquet

This year's Wabash Valley Audubon Society banquet will be Wednesday at 6 p.m., followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.

Lee Sterrenburg, Goose Pond Fish & Wildlife Area birder extraordinaire and emeritus professor at Indiana University, and Brad Feaster Property, manager of Goose Pond FWA, will be the featured guest speakers.

The banquet will be at Louise's Italian Fine Food & Bar at the Terre Haute International Airport. Cost is $25 per person and reservations can be made by calling Phil Cox at (765) 548-4007.

According to The Friend of Goose Pond organization, the property bird list for Goose Pond is now up to at least 241 species, including about 32 species of shorebirds.

Highlights from 2008 include:

* All three Ibis species (White, Glossy, and White-faced).

* 30 species of shorebirds.

* A Black-bellied Whistling-Duck.

* The first ever Gadwall nest recorded in Indiana.

* A one-day high count of 42 Black-necked Stilts and nine Wilson's Phalaropes during breeding season.

* One-day peak counts of 10 adult King Rails and American Bitterns

* 100 Soras recorded on an evening in early fall

* 1,700 Greater White-fronted Geese, the second highest count ever for Indiana.

* A peak count of 6,342 Pintails, the highest number ever recorded in Indiana.

In addition, 11 American White Pelicans and the endangered whooping crane have been recently observed.