Biologists Banding Geese at Noble Park Today

Biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Migratory Bird Program banded Canada Geese at Noble Park Lake on Monday morning.

The City of Paducah says about 200 Canada geese spend much of the year at Noble Park Lake, and the biologists will work to make sure each goose has a leg band. In that way, the state is able to get information on the typical lifespan and migratory patterns for the Canada Geese.

This is reportedly the time of year for the banding to occur since Canada Geese currently are molting, and are temporarily flightless. This happens each year during a 2-3 week period, and anyone who has visited Noble Park Lake in the past few days may have noticed an increase in feathers near the bank.

The banding process involves rounding up the geese into a pen, checking the gender of each bird, placing a band around each bird’s leg, and then releasing the bird back to the lake. The entire process for one bird takes only a couple of minutes. For birds that try to avoid the biologists by staying in the water, small remote control boats may be used to urge the birds to come out of the water.

Each year the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife catches and bands about 1000 birds. It has been determined that most of the Canada Geese from Kentucky that are about one year of age spend their summers in either James Bay or Hudson Bay in Canada.  Once they begin breeding, they stay in Kentucky.