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Show Geese Banding on Four Marshes To Assist Studies Nearly 460 geese of all ages were captured and banded on four Utah marshes last week as department of fish and game waterfoul biologists continued con-tinued studies designed to reveal re-veal more accurately, population popula-tion trends, migration routes and general behavior patterns of these highly prized birds. This concentrated bandi n g program is the first step in a unified flyway trapping and banding program initiated this year which will have as its main objective the more positive posi-tive determination of goose migration mi-gration routes. As the program moves to full scale in the months and years to come, birds will be trapped throughout the flyway before and after the season at regular intervals in such numbers num-bers that biologists viewing the data can establish seasonal flight and behavior patterns. The study will also reflect the effects the one-goose-per-day bag has had on the population. pop-ulation. The one goose bag was introduced to Utah marshes marsh-es two years ago and was maintained through the 1958 season. At this time of year adult birds are flightless due to moulting of flight feathers following fol-lowing the hatching season, and young have not yet developed devel-oped these feathers. Birds are captured by crews working from air boats and are quickly released after banding and or marking. Banding work has been completed com-pleted on Farmington Bay, Og-den Og-den Bay, Howard's Slough and Public Shooting Grounds. |