You may remember that we were fortunate to bag three banded Canada geese during a recent DU TV hunt at Oak Hammock, just outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Following our reporting the bands to the Migratory Bird Banding Lab (1-800-327-BAND), we received some interesting information on the geese that we shot. It seems Wade and I traveled more than 1,500 miles to shoot Canada geese that actually originated in the United States i.e, they were non-resident aliens!!


Bands even put on a smile on veteran waterfowlers like Wade Bourne!

The giant Canada goose that I shot was banded on 7/01/2005 in Cumberland City, Tennessee.

The giant Canada goose that Wade shot was banded on 6/27/2005 in Minnesota.

These birds were obviously on a molt migration which took them to Oak Hammock and the interlake region of Manitoba. They were yearling non-breeders and/or failed-breeders.

Molt migration is a common occurrence and is an issue contributing to some of the habitat problems (mostly due to snow geese) in the James and Hudson Bay, as well as nuisance issues in northern cities like Winnipeg.

My good friend and former colleague at the University of Missouri, DU biologist Dr. John Coluccy, wrote an excellent article covering the issues surrounding giant Canada geese (resident) in a recent DU magazine article, Resident Canada’s- A new breed of goose?

John Coluccy (on right) and I prepare to surgically attach a transmitter to a day-old giant Canada goose gosling in Missouri (circa 1997).

As John states in his article:
 
“Molt-migrant resident geese occupy breeding areas of arctic and subarctic nesting geese for a portion of the summer. Increasing numbers of molt-migrant resident geese also may be competing with migrant geese for preferred food resources on arctic and subarctic breeding and brood-rearing areas.”


During a nest check, John Coluccy is greeted by an attentive nesting pair of giant Canada geese (1997).

Once again another couple of interesting band recoveries. 

As I have mentioned before, in my 27 years of hunting, I have seen many bands taken, but have been fortunate to only shoot four banded ducks (3 mallard drakes and 1 pintail drake) and now 13 Canada geese. One of my favorite band stories was from former USFWS, Missouri Department of Conservation and DU biologist George Brakhage. While sitting in a duck blind on the Dalton Cut-off (MO), George once told me that he had shot a gadwall in North Dakota that he had banded several weeks earlier in Saskatchewan. Imagine the odds of that! I have a similar story during a hunt on the Missouri River in 2003 when one of my hunting partners shot a neck-banded Canada goose that I had banded in 1997.

Let's hear some of your band stories!



My former lab Buck and that neck-banded Canada in Missouri 2003.