Dear Randy
Thank-you very much for your report of neckbanded geese. Our program has a strong volunteer component and any observations provided by people such as yourself are most welcome. In 1987, a cooperative international project was launched to find out more about the migration patterns of Arctic white geese. The Canadian Wildlife Service is cooperating with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Central, Pacific and Mississippi Flyway Councils to place leg bands and neck collars on Arctic white geese in all the major nesting colonies in the Canadian Arctic. Each collar contains a unique, easily readable, three-digit, alpha-numeric code. Collars may be yellow, blue, red, black or green, depending upon the species of goose and the location of the nesting colony. The collaring effort is winding down but collars will remain on birds for several years to come. The first of these reports is listed as X HS. We don't have that code but do have X H5. Since 5's and S's can look the same I'm going to assume the code is X H5. The information on banding which we have on file is as follows: Neckband NeckbandSpecies Colour Code Age Sex Date Location Ross's blue X H5 Ad F 8 Aug 2003 Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary, approx 67°N and 100°WRoss's blue A VK Ad F 5 Aug 2000 Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary, approx 67°N and 100°WRoss's blue B DC Ad M 8 Aug 2004 Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary, approx 67°N and 100°W The information we have on previous sightings is as follows: Neckband NeckbandSpecies Colour Code Date LocationRoss's blue X H5 Nov 05 MontanaRoss's blue A VK Oct 2001&2002 Saskatchewan With many thanks for your co‑operation. Sincerely,

Kathy Meeres
Population Conservation | Conservation des populations
Canadian Wildlife Service | Service canadien de la faune
Environmental Stewardship Branch | Direction générale de l'intendance environnementale
Environment Canada | Environnement Canada
115 Perimeter Road | 115, chemin Perimeter
Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) S7N 0X4
[email protected]
Telephone | Téléphone 306-975-5417
Facsimile | Télécopieur 306-975-4089
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
Website | Site Web www.ec.gc.ca