Near Lykers. We found a neck-banded Canada Goose near McDonald's the other day. I was able to obtain good enough photos to read the letters and numbers on the band and submitted them to the USGS band report website. I said to Ralph at the time, "I'll bet he was hatched up at Lykers."
It's always fun to send in the code if you do discover a banded bird. Some of those that we have found were hatched all over Canada and other interesting places.
And then there are the ones with yellow bands with black lettering. Nearly every one of those that we have found was hatched in a place we frequently bird, called Lykers. The connected swamps in that area must be a wonderful nursery for Canada Geese, or maybe just handy for the banding guy who tagged them all.
It's great place to bird in general, wild farm fields, big marshes and swamps, and miles of lonesome woodland. We have found all sorts of other interesting birds there, from American Bitterns to Long-tailed and Ruddy Ducks. Even Short-eared Owls!
This goose was a male, hatched (near Lykers, doncha know) in 2015 or earlier, as he was banded in June of 2016. Not too shabby to have survived all those hard winters, predators, and hunting seasons for so long. I was impressed.
I wonder if we will spot him again. It has happened before a couple of times, always with Lykers geese. I'm always watching for those bands.
That is interesting. I wonder if they band them around here?
ReplyDeleteLinda, I looked it up and it appears that they do band in Colorado and surrounding states. I will have to read more to see what species they band. https://www.birdconservancy.org/what-we-do/education/bird-banding/
ReplyDeleteI bet those bands are annoying to the birds!
ReplyDeleteShirley, they may be indeed
ReplyDelete