Wildlife and plants found in Goose Pond Forest and Goose Pond.
Black-capped Chickadee, our state bird and a common resident of Goose Pond forest
Female Bufflehead. Small numbers of these ducks can often be seen in the pond during the winter months
Pair of Hooded Mergansers, also present in small numbers in the winter. Sometimes the males can be heard growling as they display to the females and flare their showy crests.
Yellow-rumped Warblers are common winter residents. They supplement their insect-diet with poison ivy berries and bayberries during the winter.
Yellow-rumped Warblers are common winter residents. They supplement their insect-diet with poison ivy berries and bayberries during the winter.
Ring-necked Ducks, like these 2 drakes, are also regular winter waterfowl here.
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeds her nestling in a beautiful nest of spider webs and plant down that is camouflaged with lichens to look like a bump on a lichen-covered pine branch.
Tufted Titmice were not at Goose Pond when I was boy in the early 70's, but they are now common residents of the woods, often traveling around in flocks with the chickadees.
An American Robin carries grasses to build her nest in the pine forest. Her belly feathers are wet from pushing against the nest's mud walls to shape it into a cozy cup that she lines with fine grasses.
The soothing owl-like calls and the whistling wings of the Mourning Dove can often be heard in these woods.
A Blue Dasher dragonfly surveys his territory from a yellow Spatterdock flower.
A few species of Bluet damselflies are common residents of Goose Pond's wetlands.
Bullfrogs live in Goose Pond and in the hidden wetland swale of Goose Pond Forest. Fragmenting forest with roads leads to declines in frog populations as they get squashed by passing cars on wet nights.
Bullfrogs live in Goose Pond and in the hidden wetland swale of Goose Pond Forest. Fragmenting forest with roads leads to declines in frog populations as they get squashed by passing cars on wet nights.
The hairy legs of dragonflies are used to catch insects including mosquitos and deer flies. This is an Amberwing resting on a lilypad.
Great Horned Owls can often be heard calling back and forth to each other at Goose Pond Forest, the male having a deeper voice than the female. This is one of the last locations where this species can be found in the town. These two owlets were raised successfully by the Goose Pond pair in 2020.
A giant Snapping Turtle has come out of Goose Pond to lay her eggs in the sandy soil of the forest.
Tree Swallows often visit Goose Pond, gobbling up the emerging mayflies or zipping down to scoop up a mouthful of water.
It is always a pleasure to see an Eastern Chipmunk eating acorns in the forest or perching on a log to watch a passer-by.
Great-crested Flycatchers nest in old woodpecker holes and bluebird nest boxes. This one is carrying a moth to bring back to its nestlings. When I cleaned out the nest box before the next breeding season, I found the expected snakeskin that this species is famous for using in its nest material.
The adorable Eastern Box Turtle is designated as a Species of Special Concern in Massachusetts and several of them live in Goose Pond Forest. Forest fragmentation and road mortality are two major factors in their decline.
Trailing Arbutus (Mayflower), the sweet-smelling state flower of Massachusetts, lives in Goose Pond Forest.
Trailing Arbutus (Mayflower), the sweet-smelling state flower of Massachusetts, lives in Goose Pond Forest.
Blue dasher looking right at you and in a thousand other directions at the same time.
Damsel female laying egg pods.
Diving beetle.
Frog pond whirligig beetle.
Molting water strider.
Water scorpion eating damselfly nymph, another nymph hiding.
Water scorpion eating a mayfly.
Water striders eating a damselfly.
Ghost pipes.
Woods rabbit.
Goose Pond Forest is one of the few significant remnants of forest in the town of Chatham and is an oasis to a variety of plant and animal species that continue to be squeezed out by development.
The forest helps protect the water quality of Goose Pond. The pond provides a needed source of food for a variety of creatures, such as river otters and osprey and the fish that sustain them. Musk turtles and snapping turtles make the pond their home and lay their eggs in the surrounding upland. The pond is a winter refuge for waterfowl, such as buffleheads, hooded mergansers, and ringed neck ducks. Most fishermen know that each spring the Commonwealth stocks Goose Pond with trout.
The transition area from Goose Pond to the forest upland is especially valuable to wildlife. Trees, both live and dead, provide valuable nesting habitat and food for a plethora of bird species, from tiny ruby-throated hummingbirds to the great horned owls. Flycatchers, screech owls, woodpeckers, chickadees, blue jays, titmice all require cavities in dead trees in which to nest. Pesticide-free wild areas provide valuable insect food. The forest is also the natural habitat for small mammals, and larger animals such as white-tailed deer, raccoon, opossum, fox, and coyote.
Many state-listed species at risk of extinction rely on forested areas to support their populations. They include the eastern box turtle, whip-poor-will, Scarlet Bluet, and Pine Barrens Bluet.
Within the forest there are small, isolated wetlands that likely serve as special vernal pool habitat that support creatures that depend on these unique wetlands for their life cycle, such as wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp.
Goose Pond Forest is an uncommon find of native plants in a pitch pine-oak forest community with very little occurrences of non-native invasive species. Here, you will find the state flower – trailing arbutus that flowers May through June. The forest understory is huckleberry, low bush blueberry, and highbush blueberry that support insects such as the blue spring azure butterfly. Mosses and lichens, beech trees and white pines, white and red oaks, and so much more make up this forest community.
These photographs were taken by Fred Atwood and Kristin Andres.