The goose that flew 2,000 miles to Redmond, WA.

Yukon Delta Cackling goose with neck band '@04' grazing
along the Sammamish River by Leary Way

The goose that flew 2,000 miles to Redmond, WA.

By John Reinke
Redmond, WA.

On January 16, I came across a huge flock of Canada and Cackling geese just a few hundred yards southeast of Redmond's Leary Way Bridge over the Sammamish River. It was the day after our snowstorm, and they were all busy munching on grass underneath the snow and making geese small talk.

The different sizes and coloration patterns of the geese confirmed the presence of both species. (Cackling geese are smaller than Canada geese, which they closely resemble.)  Read More >>

Never having seen a mixture like this before, I snapped off a number of pix. It wasn't until I got back home and examined the photos, that I discovered one of the geese was wearing a yellow neck band. It also had a band on its right leg. I was easily able to make out the numerals "04" on the neck band, but the third symbol above the two numerals eluded me.

A friend explained how I could report my sighting online to the US Geological Survey (http://www.reportband.gov/ ). The USGS maintains a database of sightings to aid bird banders and other researchers in tracking movements. So I submitted my report, along with my best guess about what the symbol was.

In a few days, I was contacted by a wildlife biologist at the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska, which is about 2,000 miles from Redmond. He was pretty confident the symbol I couldn't make out was the "@" sign. Sure enough, when I rotated one of my photos 90 degrees, the "@"  jumped right out at me. Bingo!

I excitedly sent him the rotated photo, confirming his hunch. I was rewarded the next day when I received an email Certificate of Appreciation from the USGS, informing me that the bird was a male Cackling goose that had been hatched in 2010 or earlier. It had been banded on July 11, 2011 at the Yukon Delta NWR.

Think of it: sometime during the 190 days from July 11, 2011 to January 16, 2012, this goose had flown approximately 2 thousand miles! That's an average of 10.5 miles a day. Now that's definitely something to cackle about!
 
Story and photo By John Reinke
Education Hill Neighborhood
Redmond, WA.
 
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