We were recently awarded a contract to assist Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to implant satellite transmitters in lesser Canada goose species throughout Washington. The transmitters allows WDFW scientists, such as Mikal Moore, project coordinator, to follow the birds through their migrations and identify their breeding and wintering grounds. You can check out the progress of this project HERE.

June, 2011: Annual Canada Goose Banding Round-up: Lots of messy fun and serious business. CLICK HERE for the details.


October, 2010: Satellite Transmitter Implants in Taverner's geese in Eastern Washington: The Taverner's goose is a subspecies of lesser Canada goose. While probably not endangered, there is some concern about the health and management of their population. I implanted satellite transmitters in Canada geese in Eastern Washington. The goal is to follow the birds to their arctic breeding grounds in Alaska. It is hoped that knowing where these birds breed will allow more accurate assessments of population stability. So far, 10 geese have been implanted! CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE about Taverner's geese. The geese have now begun their migration back to Alaska, many making the trip in only a few days! Click on the map thumbnail to see how far the geese have flown! -- Updated 4/20/11

May, 2010: Satellite Transmitter Implants in Black Scoter (Melanitta americana): It was a pleasure to once again work alongside colleagues in New Brunswick, Canada in the capture and tagging of black scoter. This was the second year I was able to participate in this project which involves the Sea Duck Joint Venture (US Fish and Wildlife Service), US Geological Survey, and Canadian Wildlife Service. The goal is to better characterize scoter critical habitat use and site fidelity for breeding, molting, and wintering. We successfully implanted 20 birds in 2009 and whopping 48 in 2010 as well as banding, measuring, and sampling (blood and feather mercury and West Nile Virus detection) of many others. I flew into Boston, MA and had a great time driving up through Maine to New Brunswick. Springtime in Maine is absolutely stunning! The DNR officers and biologists in New Brunswick were very friendly and great in sharing their knowledge. There is strong French influence in this area and in some cases, when we worked on the Quebec side of the Bay of Chaleur, it was good that we had folks with us that new how to speak French better than me!

April, 2010: Assisting USFWS in Bald Eagle Contaminants Study. It was a pleasure to volunteer 2 weeks in late April to help Phil Schempf of the US Fish and Wildlife Service in capturing and sampling free-living bald eagles throughout northern SE Alaska. We spent most of the two weeks on the MV Curlew moving to randomly selected capture sites. Captain Joe and the Curlew made the trip safe and enjoyable. We were also accompanied by Jim Johnson, a biolgist with USFWS (and my capture buddy for most of the time) and Rick Gray from BioDiversity Research Institute. In a nutshell, we would arrive on a site, put down 2 outboard skiffs, and go out to catch adult eagles. We collected one eagle at each site using herring that were specially prepared with monofilament nooses attached to a shock-absorbing rope and a floating cedar board. This system allowed us to safely capture 23 eagles. Once captured, the birds were measured, banded, and a feather and blood sample were taken for measuing mercury and lead and for performing genetics research. At 2 "bonanza" sites, we collected as many eagles as possible in one day. This study builds upon previous work performed in the late 1980s by Schempf. Stay tuned for results.