Note from Adam Welz:
Hi All
Had some more fun yesterday at the tiny open patch of water left on
Prospect Lake with two banded Canada Goose. One had a numbered collar
(white text on orange background) H9Z4 and a federal metal band, which
I did not attempt to decipher. The second had no neck collar, only a
metal federal leg band, which I managed to decipher by taking a series
of photos from different angles as it walked around me: 1048 - 75724.
I reported the collar and the leg band via the banding lab website
(http://www.reportband.gov/). In my experience, reporting only neck
collar details can be a little disappointing, as this data is not held
directly by the national banding lab but by individual researchers,
and they don't always report back to the public, so you don't get to
find out where 'your' bird was banded. But most of the metal band
numbers are held in a national database, and by reporting them online
you can get an instant report back; it turns out my second bird was
banded in Quebec, Canada, on 07/10/2009 -- a real Canadian Canada Goose.
I'd like to encourage Prospect birders to report bands, even of common
species, because it's a great way to make a real contribution to
science and gives you something to do on a slow birding day like
yesterday. It's a bit of a challenge to get enough pics of a goose leg
to figure out a whole band number, but definitely do-able. As an
ex-bander I know that every little datapoint counts, because it's so
hard to get them. Even repeat re-sightings of collared geese are
useful, as it tells us how long animals use particular habitats etc.,
so if H9Z4 hangs around, report it.
Cheers
Adam
