# are neck bands on geese color coded?



## shark6 (Jun 28, 2005)

and if so what does an orange or red one mean? and if so would that get me in more trouble if i snuck onto the prison grounds in milan one night and strangled the taunting @#$%^er? hahahaha just kidding any game wardens [email protected]^#%$&&@#@$&&%^@# geese


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

Yes, the color does have some significance.

Orange - James Bay "migratory" birds
Red- Indiana Resident birds
white w/black ltrs - ohio resident birds
green w/wht ltrs- michigan resident birds (though they haven't done neck banding in some time. I think Big Ches got one this year - should be at least 5yrs old)


Yellow tarsal bands are also james bay birds, but most come more specifically in the ft. albany over to Akimiski Island area.

Pink, white and green w/blk ltr tarsal bands are used on resident birds in southern Ontario.

typically, it's one color for region/state of each flyway. example: white with blk on the east coast is not an Ohio bird that got lost. it's probably banded right there. Atlantic flyway also used yellow with blk ltr neck collars.

in the central flyway, you'll find canada's banded in Colorado with green w/white ltr collars. again, not michigan birds.

like this guy. he's a Colorado Springs resident!


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

thanks for the info, i got a green neck collared canadian 2 years ago and it was banded near bently michigan. i killed her in pinconning in the september season. its my first and only neck collar. pretty neat, i got it mounted.


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

Congrats! just curious, what year was it banded?

There was one (green collar) still flying around Ann Arbor last year - Oh yeah, he was targeted! our paths never crossed though :rant:


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## raisinrat (Feb 9, 2006)

I saw a Red Neck Banded bird On the River Raisin about a week ago.


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## Bmac (Jul 7, 2002)

There were a couple green collars, a white and an orange collar hanging around here before early season last year. They took off about a week before the opener and I didn't see them again.


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## DEERHNTR (Mar 12, 2004)

We had a couple neck collars floating around our corporate campus this past fall. I do not recall what color the collars were but it was pretty neat to see a few around.


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## goosebustr79 (Jan 18, 2005)

I see a lot of collar's. I still have seen quite a few green and white one's around. I have been lucky enough to kill 6 or 7 green's and a few white and orange one's. I still haven't got a tarsal or a miner. Hopefully one day.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

Branta said:


> Congrats! just curious, what year was it banded?
> 
> There was one (green collar) still flying around Ann Arbor last year - Oh yeah, he was targeted! our paths never crossed though :rant:


i just looked at the award i recieved from USGS and it says it was banded 6/29/2000. i reported it on 9/1/2003. it was a female and was hatched in 1999 or earlier according to my literature.

so by my findings, using your info, a collared goose from michigan(green collar/white letters) is going to be at least a minimum of 6 years old by this spring. that sounds logical to me.

you also said they dont collar neck collar anymore, what is the reasoning? i had heard they quit because they were finding geese with the collar hung up on things. they werent able to free themselves and as a result they were dying.:16suspect any truth to this? it sounds like a good reason to quit to me.

thanks, happy hunting.


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## ironmachineus (Dec 22, 2005)

I was leaving an office building in Dearborn about 3 weeks ago and was literally chased throught the parking lot by a goose with a green neck band, white lettering. I took a picture with a cell phone camera, but it didn't zoom in enough to get a clear picture, and I wasn't about to stand there to get a close up!


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

I can't say specifically why they stopped collaring, but i can offer some insight.

first off, can the collar potentially cause some problems for the goose? sure. Would this be a large enough or widespread concern to then NOT band? no.
kinda like going under the knife for us; you could die even if it's just your appendix or rhinoplasty - but it's extremely rare. because it's rare, that's why it gets sensationalized when it does happen and then people extrapolate that it must then happen to all geese with collars. - not so.

They neck collar so that they can track and monitor that goose during it's life. with a large spotting scope, you can track a goose through it's life and migration (or lack of) by noting the color and reading the numbers that are specific to that one goose.

Michigan banded to track and report on what is now known as "molt migration" of michigan resident birds heading north in the late summer and then returning in early sept. that study was completed and therefore, no need to further collar birds. - that's one thought.

I've heard also that a study was done somewhere where they concluded that collared birds were disproportionately harvested over non-collared birds. (_REALLY?!!! COULD'VE SAVED YOU A TON OF FUNDING ON THAT STUDY!!! OF COURSE THEY ARE!!!) _

Again, I don't know this for fact, but I've heard that is also why they've gone to the less obvious tarsal band. (I've also heard that it was in part a reaction to "freeze up" observations on neck collars). on a cut field or standing on a sand bar, you can still read the numbers. Up and around Toronto they were doing a lot of tarsal banding of "nuisance flocks". each pop was getting a different color. don't know if that has continued on though.

here's a tarsal...









and a white "bib" style neck collar - harvested in the Maritimes (not an Ohio bird). bib syle is cone shaped;smaller at the top, wider at the bottom and soft(er) plastic. -not a hard plastic collar.


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## wavie (Feb 2, 2004)

Seems like this guy had a thing for targeting snow collars. Amazing how effective high power rifles work.

Here's a link. Scroll down.
http://www.refugeforums.com/refuge/showthread.php?t=419939


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## Big Ches (Mar 22, 2005)

Why yes Branta I indeed did kill one this year!:coolgleam It was banded in 2000--the last year of the study.


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## gilgetter (Feb 28, 2006)

yes they are color coded,and your mom would like to see you sometime.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

wavie said:


> Seems like this guy had a thing for targeting snow collars. Amazing how effective high power rifles work.
> 
> Here's a link. Scroll down.
> http://www.refugeforums.com/refuge/showthread.php?t=419939


\

wow, that is allot of collars. its hard to believe someone would be that driven to get a collared or in this case several collared geese....unbelievable...then to hang em up where everyone can see..what a dummy, he got what he deserved.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

Branta said:


> I can't say specifically why they stopped collaring, but i can offer some insight.
> 
> first off, can the collar potentially cause some problems for the goose? sure. Would this be a large enough or widespread concern to then NOT band? no.
> kinda like going under the knife for us; you could die even if it's just your appendix or rhinoplasty - but it's extremely rare. because it's rare, that's why it gets sensationalized when it does happen and then people extrapolate that it must then happen to all geese with collars. - not so.
> ...


thanks for the insight and the pics. it seems your really on top of things.


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