>
> Attention Washington and Oregon birders:
>
> Here in BC a marking and tracking study has been under way with summer-moulting and temporarily flightless Canada Geese (CAGO) at estuaries in the Central Vancouver Island area for a number of years. This study is linked to other population studies and will provide information on their movements (residency, natal and post-breeding dispersal, potential migration, etc.), as an aid to better understanding and managing populations breeding, moulting and wintering at major Vancouver Island estuaries, where monitoring, control and restoration projects are under way to minimize damage, erosion and habitat loss caused by over-grazing of sensitive sedge meadows, e.g:
> <http://www.guardiansmie.org/Guardians_of_Mid-Island_Estuaries/Welcome.html>
>
> So far we have banded and collared Canada Geese on east-central Vancouver Is. in the Parksville-Qualicum area at Englishman R. estuary and Little Qualicum R. estuary in 2010, Craig Creek estuary in 2012, and most recently further north at Campbell River estuary in 2015. Now that the summer moult period is over and they are airborne again and on the move, some of these birds may be coming soon to a shore, wetland, park, farm field, golf course or grassy playing field near you. We have had sighting reports at least as far south as southern Oregon so far, possibly further.
>
> Life cycle in brief: Young Canada Geese spend the first year of life with their parents (which may or may not migrate to specific wintering areas and return in spring), then spend the next 1-2 years as immature (non-breeding) birds wandering, dispersing up to hundreds of kilometres (occasionally further) from their natal site in spring and fall and joining summer moulting and wintering flocks, before finding a mate and selecting a breeding site, to which they typically return (and non-migratory 'residents' may remain near) in subsequent years. Thus even immature birds from non-migratory populations still disperse over considerable distances before breeding, keeping local populations mixed and avoiding in-breeding. (This juvenile dispersal behaviour is typical of most bird species, whether adults are resident or migratory.) So some of those geese at the local marsh are likely not the same birds present last summer or winter, and any surviving young produced there may breed elsewhere when mature. During the summer moulting period, when goslings are still too young to fly, adult and immature birds replace all their flight feathers at once and are also temporarily flightless, so congregate with hatch-year birds in large moulting flocks at estuaries that supply their two primary needs - food and fresh water - providing the best opportunity for efficient round-up, capture and marking for dispersal and migration tracking studies.
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> Marked birds have a silver aluminum 'federal' ID band on one leg (a few also have a coded colour band on the opposite leg) that can be read on shore at close range with a spotting scope, and more importantly for most observers, a white neck collar with a 3-digit plus letter alphanumeric code (e.g. "125T") that can be easily read with binoculars at up to 50-100 m, and with a spotting scope at up to several hundred metres.
>
> Please report your sightings of neck-collared Canada Geese, including location, date and full collar code (or banded geese that may have lost their collar, if you can read the bands) to Master Bander John Cooper at:
> <jcooper at cooperbeauchesne.com>.
>
> Thank you for your assistance with this important ongoing study, which is integral to the long term conservation and management of important and sensitive estuary habitat on Vancouver Island (and potentially elsewhere as well).
>
> Cheers, ...Bruce
> ______________________________________________________
> Bruce Cousens, B.Sc., M.Sc., R.P.Bio., Senior Biologist,
> BC Purple Martin Stewardship & Recovery Program Coordinator,
> Georgia Basin Ecological Assessment and Restoration Society
> PO Box 41012, RPO Woodgrove Nanaimo, BC, CANADA V9T 6M7
> Phone/msg./fax: (250) 758-2922; E-mail: <pmartins at island.net>
> ______________________________________________________
>