The Check Is in the Mail...but A Wild Goose Chase Is More Fun   by Carena Pooth

I got something in the mail the other day that excited me much more than the envelope right underneath it, which was my federal tax refund. This is the story of that exciting piece of mail.

January is a great time to visit the upper Delaware River valley to see wintering Bald Eagles. This year, although there were fewer eagles than usual because of the warm weather, we got an unexpected bonus.

We stayed at the Best Western in Matamoras, PA. The motel grounds include a small, decorative pond visible from half the rooms as well as from the restaurant's large windows. A few fancy geese are kept there to add to the bucolic scene, and many wild geese and Mallards hang out with them, enjoying the edible handouts near the pond. A ride down the back driveway to the edge of the Delaware River always includes a forced stop while the geese and ducks throng around the car expecting some goodies.

This year, we found, as usual, many Canada and Snow Geese behind the motel. What was different was that one of the Snow Geese wore a leg band and a numbered yellow neck collar. I took some pictures of the birds, particularly the banded one. I figured that this goose had already been reported because it was being seen by so many people in this birdy area. But when a friend asked me later whether I had reported the bird, I decided to do so. I went to the website of the Bird Banding Laboratory at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and submitted my report online. I could have called it in on the phone instead, at 1-800-327-BAND.

Last week, I received a certificate in the mail, showing the Snow Goose's banding information (see below). To my amazement, this creature that was wandering the lawn at the Matamoras Best Western in January 2002 had been banded in August 2000 near SW Bylot Island in Canada's Nunavut territory. I did a little research and found that Bylot Island is 2200 miles north of Matamoras and several hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle. The certificate also showed that the goose is a female hatched in 1999 or earlier and that the banding was part of a project being done by Dr. G. Gauthier at Laval University in Québec.

While we all know that so many of the birds around us are accomplished world travelers, it is truly amazing to be able to trace the history of an individual bird this way. As I read that certificate for the first time, I imagined the goose up on the northern tundra, where most of the humans it sees may be Inuit natives. I recalled descriptions of remote modern native villages from Peter Jenkins' book Looking for Alaska. Beautiful images from countless northern nature documentaries cascaded through my mind. I remembered my own sense of wonder when I had traveled and found scenery and ways of life that were new to me. What does a bird feel when it travels south for the first time, encountering the noise and bustle of human sprawl? And what is Nunavut all about? I went to www.nunavut.com and learned about this newest Canadian territory, which encompasses one-fifth of Canada's land mass and is meant to protect the land and culture of the indigenous Inuits. I went on to the fascinating and entertaining Nunavut Handbook, where I found not only information on B&Bs of the far north but also an article about Sirmilik National Park by Marian and Mike Ferguson containing the following about "my" Snow Goose's home turf:

The southwest corner of Bylot Island is a 1,300-square-kilometre rolling plain of lush wetlands covered by cotton-grass, willow and moss. These wetlands form the nesting grounds of the world's largest colony of greater snow geese (kanguq), one of 30 species of breeding birds found here. In 1993, the colony numbered 75,000 adult geese, after growing by 300 per cent over the previous decade. Seeing signs that the geese may be over-abundant, biologists are studying their habitat to assess the impact of their increase…..

The abundant wildlife has drawn people to this area for 4,000 years. The numerous archeological sites in the park, which are protected by law, are evidence of the prehistoric lives of Inuit and earlier inhabitants.

You and I share a wonderful hobby with boundless opportunities for learning. The trail of a single goose has led me to explore new horizons as an armchair traveler. But now I'd better go deposit that check! It won't get me to the tundra, but at least it will help keep me connected to the internet.

Wings Over Dutchess, May 2002

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