More About the Banded Goose

I received my certificate from the Bird Banding Laboratory faster than usual this time. I reported a banded Canada Goose on Saturday and received the certificate on Monday. Certificates usually include some interesting information about where or how the bird was banded. In the case of this bird, the certificate states that it is a female and that she "was too young to fly when banded," which means that she was big enough to keep a size 8 band on its leg but had not grown her first set of flight feathers yet. The bird was banded in 1997, so she has probably produced plenty of her own (probably banded) offspring.

The banding site was given as Dunellen, New Jersey, and lies about 5.8 miles (as the goose flies) from where I saw the bird. The site appears to be a wetland of some sort, and it appears to be connected by a stream to the Dismal Swamp area. So far every banded Canada Goose I have reported has come from either that site or Raritan Center.