Capture of moulting Canada Geese in the Beauly Firth

Abstract

39 of a flock of 153 flightless Canada Geese were caught near Lentran, Inverness-shire on 3rd and 8th July, 1963. The catching procedures are described. Two of the geese had been ringed as juveniles at Ripley, Yorkshire, 260 SSE, in 1959 and 1962. Four more have been recovered in Yorkshire in October and in December, 1963. This is the first evidence of 'moult migration' by Canada Geese in Great Britain. The average weight of 12 geese was 4.65 kg.(l0 1/4 lbs.), and the average length of the exposed culmen of 21 geese was 53.1 mm., values closely resembling those from a sample of geese caught in Derbyshire in 1957.