Three images: Thanks to Pbaser Shelly VA Beach (shellyva), I went through all my recent Snow Goose images and found four banded Geese, two of which were readable. I sent the band #'s in to the Wildlife Service and received two Appreciation Certificates in return. These had the banding locations, dates and gender marked on them. The dates were a real eye-opener for me as I had never given much thought as to how old the birds I was photographing might be, nor about the life expectancy of the birds.

In the top image, the certificate indicates that the Goose (AJ59) is a female Greater Snow Goose that was banded in Nunavut, Canada in 1992 and that it hatched in 1990 or earlier. This makes the Goose at least 21 years old. This was a surprise to me as I, for some reason, thought that birds might have a life expectancy of only 5 to 10 years. I did a bit of research on life expectancies and found the following:

1. Bigger birds generally, but not always, live longer than small birds.
2. Life expectancy of Geese is about 25 years.
3. For Greater Snow Geese the average life is about 6 to 8 years but many live beyond 16 years.
4. Canada Geese in captivity have been known to live up to 33 years.
5. House Sparrows and N.Cardinals have been known to live up to 23 and 22 years respectively.
6. Mallards have been known to live up to 23 years.


Image of female Greater Snow Goose, band # AJ59, hatched 1990 or earlier, making it at least 21 years old. It was banded at Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada in 1992.


Image of female Greater Snow Goose band # A2E9, hatched in 2006 or earlier, making it at least five years old. It was banded in 2007 at Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada.