Mountain ranges tend to be barriers for most migrating fowl, but one Canada goose, tagged as part of a research project in Nanaimo, managed to make its way to a park in Chicago.
Why the bird ended up 3,000 kilometres from its home turf is a mystery.
Eric Demers, a biology professor at Vancouver Island University, said the bird was tagged in 2016 and was one of about 400 geese that VIU biology students banded and collared over two years. The neck collars display highly visible letters and numbers that people can use to report a bird91裸聊视频檚 identity and location to the VIU Canada Goose Project website.
91裸聊视频淎ll of these collars are approved by the Canadian Wildlife Service and so nobody else would have the same type of collar,91裸聊视频� Demers said. 91裸聊视频淲e know that if somebody finds a code on that kind of collar it has to be ours.91裸聊视频�
The goose wearing collar No. 085P was spotted by a woman in Lincoln Park in Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan in October. She told her husband about it and he reported the sighting. Demers said the woman was contacted via e-mail to confirm the sighting wasn91裸聊视频檛 a hoax or mistake.
Demers said Canada geese can live 15 to 20 years. The majority of birds banded in Nanaimo simply winter in the area and don91裸聊视频檛 fly much farther than Sechelt or Victoria, the professor said.
91裸聊视频淎bout 10 or 15 per cent 91裸聊视频� have shown up as far away as Washington or Oregon, and with Oregon it91裸聊视频檚 often in the Eugene area. We don91裸聊视频檛 know why,91裸聊视频� he said.
Demers said what he refers to as 91裸聊视频渙riginal91裸聊视频� Canada geese fly every year from from California, Oregon, Washington and southern B.C. to Alaska to breed. But in the 1970s and 91裸聊视频�80s, he said, young geese were transported without their parents to Vancouver Island from Saskatchewan for hunting purposes.
91裸聊视频淕eese need to be shown where to go to migrate. Without parents, these guys came here and they said, hey, the winters aren91裸聊视频檛 so bad. Let91裸聊视频檚 stay put,91裸聊视频� Demers said.
Why one goose travelled all the way from the Harbour City to the Windy City is unknown. Demers said it could have been blown off course by a storm.
91裸聊视频淢aybe its compass was not organized right. Maybe it caught a flight of some other geese, although most geese that migrate a lot here stay on the coast side, so I don91裸聊视频檛 know that there are east-west migrating birds it would have hitched a ride with,91裸聊视频� Demers said.
The last time the bird91裸聊视频檚 tag was recorded in Nanaimo was in 2017, which means the goose likely established itself here. Once they do that, the professor said, they91裸聊视频檙e unlikely to change their migratory habits and usually stay local.
The joint goose research project between VIU and the city is ongoing and headed by former VIU biology student Stewart Pearce. To learn more about the program, visit .
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