Ringing geese

Today i have been on a fieldtrip with the NJN to fit some geese with rings. This is done to be able to recognize them from a distancte to monitor where they are. Today we handled about 75 young geese and about 35 adult geese.

Every goose is fitted with a metal ring with a unique code from the migrating-bird-station. These rings are read when migrating birds are caught with masses or when the bird dies. Besides the metal ring also a plastic ring is fitted. This ring can be read from greater distance to recognize the bird in the field.

The geese where caught by herding them in a pen. Because the adults are changing their feathers they cannot fly, the young geese are not far enough in their development yet to fly.

After this we went to Velp for a family of geese. We tried to catch them with a piece of string, We managed to catch two young geese and one of the parents. In a few weeks the other parent and the other 3 young geese will be caught. These geese also got metal en plastic rings.

Below is a photo-impression of the day.