I’m wondering if there’s a way I can track down this particular band on a Canada Goose (photo taken in Mississauga, Ontario) - I did a quick check on a USGS website, and it indicated their bands are 7/8 digits, which this one is not.
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The one of the right (the goose’s left) is a standard USGS 7-8 digit band. Not sure what the other one is.
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The band on the left may be from a Canadian/Ontario banding group because of the “ONT”.
The web page for Canada about reporting a banded bird has a link and phone number that goes to the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory. I’m guessing that the two countries consolidated databases to the U.S. Lab because birds don’t know about borders and travel all over the continent.
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/bird-banding/how-to-report.html
I know you can report a band and add a photo on that U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory web page.
If you know of a local wildlife rehab center in Ontario that handles birds (geese), you could contact them and show them the photo. Rehab centers often have certified bird banders that band birds before releasing them. The rehabbers have conferences and know each other. Maybe someone knows someone who knows what that left band is.
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I sent a message with a screenshot of the photo to a local rehabber here in NE Ohio. I know he is also a bander and goes to conferences. He immediately said that this is a Jack Miner band. (So, the “NER” is probably the end of “Miner”.)
https://jackminer.ca/bird-banding/
You can see a band on the web page that is similar to the one in your photo.
Send them the photo and the information and please report back here!
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