How do I look up where this goose is from?

[LzyPhotographer]

A huge flock of geese has shown up at the Salton Sea and in the crowd is one with a band. How or where do I look up where this goose is from? I'm really curious to know...

[Katy Penland]

Contact the Patuxent Bird Banding Laboratory:

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/default.htm

What's great is that they'll let the relevant researcher know, and then they'll also send you (thru the mail) a report with info on your particular bird, where it was banded and by whom -- if they know (i.e., if the researcher is known to their database). I've reported several over the years and it's really cool to think that not only are you learning about a particular bird's history but you're helping the scientists in their research.

Good on ya for noticing it and getting a good clear shot of the ID number on the collar!

[bob parsons]

Snow Geese.

Red Wrangel Island
Blue Alaska
Black Western Artic
Yellow Central Artic

Ross Goose

Blue Central Artic

[LzyPhotographer]

Thank you! That is so very cool!

[KCFoggin]

Contact the Patuxent Bird Banding Laboratory:

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/default.htm

What's great is that they'll let the relevant researcher know, and then they'll also send you (thru the mail) a report with info on your particular bird, where it was banded and by whom -- if they know (i.e., if the researcher is known to their database). I've reported several over the years and it's really cool to think that not only are you learning about a particular bird's history but you're helping the scientists in their research.

Good on ya for noticing it and getting a good clear shot of the ID number on the collar!
Hey Katy. No certificates of appreciation from them? I've got a couple. It really is neat the way they follow through.

[Katy Penland]

Hey Katy. No certificates of appreciation from them? I've got a couple. It really is neat the way they follow through.
Huh, not that I've noticed. LOL! I'll have to go dig 'em out (egads, where would I have filed *those*?). I always just read the part where the bird originated and who did the research and file 'em. Ms. Oblivious here.

Yeah, it *is* great that Patuxent provides that kind of communication with the public. It encourages more participation and gives info to the researchers that they couldn't otherwise ever afford to gather themselves. I once photographed a western gull in Ensenada, Mexico, that had been wing-tagged in Canada, and have had multiple tern, gull and goose species with bands that I've reported.

And in a completely different taxanomic arena, two years in a row I photographed the same Risso's dolphin with the same calf that was some of the first hard evidence that this species showed site fidelity for feeding. *I* of course didn't know I was photographing the same animals until the scientist called me up one day and yelled, "Do you know what you sent me?" Which gave me a heart attack at first, thinking I might have included a, um, more personal photo in the bunch I'd sent him. But he was just excited over the fact that the dolphins were photographed in the exact same area almost a year to the day apart.

It's just cool to see how the most casual bits of info can pay off to scientists who've been studying a particular species for years. I really urge all wildlife photographers to share their photos freely with researchers they know are studying specific species. Even if you never know directly how your contributions help, down the road every little piece of info can result in huge discoveries that would otherwise remain unknown to all of us.

Okay, conservation plea over! ;)