26-27.03 The goose catch

Last week we went back as every year to western Julland to ring and mark pink-footed and barnacle geese.   Since many years, the goose catch takes place north from Vest Stadil Fjord. Recently, fast growing population of barnacle geese seems to 'invade' the areas along the coast and when we arrived, the area was almost entirely black and white. We were a bit concerned whether we will be able to catch some pinkies. We set up the canon net the day before and the next day we caught 39 pinkies and 156 barnies. This is much less than we expected but I think we were still very lucky to catch some individuals among huge flock of barnies. All pinkies got white neckbands, all starting on 'R'. Based on the regular readings surveys from all stopover sites, we will be able to say more about their migration and life. Below few pictures from the catch and if time allows, we will soon post a movie from this event.

Camouflaged net

                                                       Setting up the net the day before

Geese waiting for their turns in the tents