Local goose or no?

Cody Williams

Well-known member
Got this banded goose last night, it came in with a flock that was probably the biggest single flock I've ever seen in the air in person-at least 500 or 600 birds. I could hear them coming for at least a mile before they came over, it was quite a sight! This particular goose was banded in the summer of 2015 (by a buddy of mine, oddly enough!) only about 2 miles from where I shot it, but the group it was flying with were definitely not local birds. I wonder if this bird hatched locally but migrated every year, or was a local bird that joined up with a big group of migrators? What do you guys think? Crazy that a band can create more questions than it answers!
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We need to make radio or satellite telemetry gear a lot smaller and a lot cheaper, then all of your questions would be answered. Retirement project for Brad Bortner?
 
Cody -

My experience has been locals and out of towners mix and mingle until its time for the birds to leave... I personally feel some migrate back north and some stay... I think the Female sets the tone for that. This is my humble opinion and antidotal at best, I see in nature when the basic needs are met - food, water, habitat, and breeding is readily available - there is nothing but instinct to then force a migration... I am not certain that is truly enough 100% of the time.
 
There was a radio tracking study done here a decade or more ago. They wanted see how "local" some of the "local" geese stay.

As I remember it was a very mixed bag. Some never moved far and others moved hundreds of miles, very quickly at times. I remember one they followed from SE SD that traveled into Canada during September. Some went way east, others stayed home.
Some of those that moved well out of the area later on turned up back in their original home. Almost none of the "locals" stayed local the entire year. Some put on a lot of miles.

I'm sure your goose could have put on a lot of miles and been part of many different flocks only to be shot 2 miles away.

Tim
 
I can't get the picture that was with this to post, but it showed Lizzi with a mottled duck with the gps backpack tracker. I guess it already is and can be done.
Congrats on the band.....

UWF Graduate Research Scholarship - Award Announcement!



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We are proud to award the 1st United Waterfowlers of Florida Graduate Research Scholarship to Lizzi Bonczek. A Ph.D. student at LSU, Lizzi will be investigating how environmental characteristics affect the breeding propensity, nest success, and re-nesting effort of mottled ducks in coastal Louisiana. The habitat that mottled ducks use for nesting is often not conducive to the traditional nest searching techniques used on the prairies, so Lizzi will be capturing female mottled ducks during wing molt and will follow their subsequent movements using backpack GPS-GSM transmitters. She will let the ducks lead her to the nests, and will then monitor nests to determine whether they hatch or fail and will collect local habitat characteristics to evaluate factors that influence nest fate. Her research will provide important information about mottled duck breeding that will help with mottled duck management in the future.

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United Waterfowlers of Florida values the impact that research and education have on the continued enjoyment of our waterfowling heritage and natural resources. The scholarship was established to assist students to further our knowledge of Florida’s wetlands and the waterfowl that use them. It also honors the memory of the late UW-F member, Bob “Bomber” O’Connell, who had a great love for waterfowl hunting in Florida.

We are excited to provide Lizzi with funds to improve her data collection and look forward to seeing her results in a few years. We are grateful to the members who donated to a dedicated fund for this scholarship. If you would like to contribute to next year’s scholarship, please visit http://unitedwaterfowlersfl.org/grad...h-scholarship/
 
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Interesting input guys! A radio tracker would be neat, I remember reading about a radio-implanted bluebill that flew from Canada to the Bahamas in some ridiculously short amount of time, like 70 hours. I agree with you guys, it's probably local, but who knows? Wondering about it is one of the fun things about hunting, who knows where these birds have been! My 2 duck bands are from the Canadian Northwest Territories and from New Mexico, but were shot within a few miles of each other here in Utah, my 2 goose bands have been local.
 
Several years ago a friend who manages for deer on 500 acres noticed a canada goose nest in one of his ponds for about 8 nesting seasons. I got interested when he said she had a red neck collar. I took pictures and sent the info in and was advised she was a James Bay bird [if memory serves].
She did not return the following season and was not seen again. I later found out she was shot by a "sport" with a rifle while feeding in a cow pasture. she was shot because she had a visible neck collar by a guy who has never legally hunted waterfowl.
I confronted him with the info on the bird, he was speechless and offered no comment. He has not spoken to me since.
 
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