Bite is small price to pay for lifetime lesson
June 18, 2006
David Goodrich found out all about the business end of a Giant Canada goose Saturday morning, but that was a small price to pay for the experience he had.
"It bit me," said Goodrich, one of 16 youth and many more adults who helped the Division of Wildlife band geese Saturday morning in the Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area.
The event was part of the Green Wings youth program put on by the local chapter of Ducks Unlimited and Ohio Waterfowlers Association. The intention was to introduce young people to waterfowl conservation and in the process, lend a hand to the DOW with its annual goose banding.
"We couldn't have done it without the kids," said Dennis Solon, who works for the DOW out of the Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area office. "This was one of the easiest goose bandings we've ever done."
Every county in the state has a quota of geese that need to be banded each year, and Saturday geese were rounded up, data was collected on each, and all were banded before being released.
"We had 39 geese, and six recaptures," said Kevin Higgins of the DOW. "And one that was at least 15 years old. That's one of the oldest we've ever captured."
Other than Saturday's hot weather, now is the perfect time for a "goose roundup" as the young of the year have yet to learn how to fly, and the parents are molting and can't fly.
It was also the perfect opportunity to give the children some hands-on experience.
"Working with wildlife is never an exact science," said Higgins. "The kids got to see that, see some basic biology and help us with data taking.
"Anytime we can get kids outdoors and have hands-on experiences, it's something they'll never forget."
And Goodrich will tell you all about his hands-on experience as he found out how a goose defends itself when it can't get away, getting pecked in the chest when he was handling a young bird in the banding process.
Rubbing his chest where the goose bit him, Goodrich, of Wooster, admitted he had fun despite the run-in with the goose.
David's father, Bob Goodrich, is a long-time duck hunter and a member of the Wayne County DU chapter.
"This is a great event. It's all about the kids and teaching them to respect conservation," Bob Goodrich said. "If you teach them at a young age, they'll grow up and pass it on."
Bruce Byler, who along with Steve Jennings, spearheaded the event as members of the local DU chapter, thought the debut banding and following educational activities were a huge success.
"We just wanted to get the kids involved and see how it would go the first year," said Byler. "We would have liked to have had more kids, but the ones that were here this year will go out and tell their friends and it's going to grow."
The actual banding took place behind the Pine Tree Barn off state Route 226, where Solon and Higgins had spotted a flock of geese coming out of the water to feed in the mornings. The two DOW employees first approached the flock, with one cutting off the path to safety in the water, and the other blocking an escape route to the woods. That's when the kids and adults moved in, circling around the flock and funneling them into a small area where they were netted. One-by-one, each goose was pulled out and had a federal band put on its leg and a state collar attached to its neck. The birds were checked to see if they were male or female, and aged.
"It was just a fantastic morning," said Jennings. "The kids actually got to participate in hands-on conservation and data recording."
All who took part in Saturday's event felt it was worthy of a repeat performance next year.
Unfortunately, picking the date for 2007 can't be done just yet.
"There's a three-week period when the adult geese are unable to fly," said Byler. "And the ODNR controls the timing of when the birds can be banded."
When they do hold the event next year, though, children like Goodrich and Emily Burt just may be back.
"I held four geese all females," said Burt, of Rittman. "I love animals."
