Times Observer photo by Lorri Drumm Pennsylvania Game Commission Intern Zoe Snyder was one of a group of staff who took part in a waterfowl banding session on Monday near Warren General Hospital. A gaggle of geese were surrounded and enclosed in a pen in order to equip them with numbered bands that will help manage their species.

A good-sized gaggle of geese were declared “pretty cooperative” by Regional Wildlife Management Supervisor Roger Coup on Monday.

The geese were part of a waterfowl banding session on Monday near Warren General Hospital. Pennsylvania Game Commission staff surrounded and enclosed the geese in a pen in order to equip them with numbered bands that will help manage their species.

Monday’s session went well, with the exception of a few minor scratches to arms and feathers stuck to facial hair. The geese that were found gathered near the hospital helipad were probably accustomed to being around people in the area, according to Jeremy Stempka, waterfowl biologist.

Stempka said “cooperative” isn’t always the case in bird banding. “I’ve seen geese take off as soon as they see the game commission vehicles approaching,” he said. “Especially geese that have been captured before.”

Banding sessions are being held throughout the state beginning last week into this week. There’s a reason for the specific time frame. The geese are moulting at this time of year and thus can’t fly, according to Roger Coup, regional wildlife management supervisor.

Times Observer photo by Lorri Drumm Jeremy Stempka, waterfowl biologist on the left and Tim Hoppe, regional waterfowl biologist capture and identify the gender of a gaggle of geese during a waterfowl banding session on Monday near Warren General Hospital.

Unlike some other waterfowl, geese lose their feathers all at once, preventing their ability to fly, according to Stempka. The young geese (goslings) aren’t big enough to fly yet. But, of course, geese do swim.

Once the gaggle was spotted on land near the hospital, the crew stood ready to surround them as two staff approached from the Allegheny River in kayaks. Even with the river still flowing high from recent rainfall, the kayakers skillfully paddled in and pushed the geese inward.

As the geese started to move, the group formed a large circle and crouched down with arms extended to surround the geese. The walls of the enclosure were set up around the gaggle and the banding process began.

One by one, each goose was identified by gender and then taken to either the male or female line where a numbered metal band was applied to one of their feet, or more in the area of their ankle, if geese had ankles.

The baby geese (goslings) were held by interns outside the banding enclosure. Their feet are too small for bands. They were released as soon as their parents got their bands.

Managing a complex and mobile resource requires information on breeding and wintering distribution, behavior, migratory routes and survival and reproduction, according to information from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Biologists gather this information by placing uniquely numbered bands on many species of birds.

The banded birds may be recaptured in the future by biologists, or are found dead by the general public, or in the case of waterfowl or other game birds are harvested by hunters, who then report these bands to the National Bird Banding Laboratory, which provides information about where the bird was banded, where it was recovered, and how long it lived.

The value of banding data is only fully realized when banded birds are recovered and band numbers reported to the Bird Banding Laboratory. The predominant number of recoveries of dead birds come from the public, either by people who have found birds that have died, or by hunters who have harvested them.