If you weren't careful about keeping the correct spacing while you were in line, you could be goosed.

By a goose.Wildlife management supervisors, biologists and wildlife conservation officers from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, along with volunteers, banded Canada geese at several locations in Carbon County last week. Once they corraled the geese, the birds were individually caught and banded."We band every year, and the bands have an identification number and a phone number on them," said John Morgan, Wildlife Management Supervisor, PGC Southeast Region. "Hunters report it when they get a banded bird, and the information helps us keep track of hunter success, and also bird longevity and travels."Morgan said that the state annually bands 3,000 Canada geese.Wildlife agencies across the country began banding geese in the 1920's, and as a result could identify the major flyways, or migratory pathways. The United States has the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central and Pacific flyways; we are in the Atlantic flyway.Information from banding helps wildlife officials determine the condition of breeding habitat, as well as survival rates. For example, two geese harvested in Pennsylvania last year were banded two or three years before that - one was banded in Hudson Bay in August 2012, one was banded in Newfoundland in July 2011.Beltsville State Park - the site of numerous complaints about geese - was the first stop on the local banding project. After spotting a large group of geese hanging at the water's edge, Kevin Wenner (Wildlife Management Supervisor, Northeast Region), Molly Giles (Wildlife Biologist, Northeast Region, specializing in migratory birds), and Ian Gregg (Wildlife Biologist, Harrisburg) slipped into kayaks and cautiously herded the birds onto the shore.The geese were reluctant to leave the water, and Giles explained why."There is about a three week period when they are moulting and unable to fly," she said. "That's why the banding is scheduled during this time period; it's the only time we can catch them this way."As the geese began emerging onto the grassy area, people gradually closed ranks, some holding a piece of fencing about eight feet long. Soon all the pieces of fence met, with the geese caught inside.Volunteer Larry Crimi, Peckville, who interned with the game commission before graduating from Unity College in Maine this spring, stepped in with the geese and began catching birds, starting with the goslings, or youngsters. Each bird was handed to a biologist who could identify it as male or female, then people stood in line while holding one or two geese, until the bands were applied and information recorded.At Beltzville, 94 geese were banded. Giles and Andrea Evans, Wildlife Biologist for the Northeast Region, handled the banding duties. Wildlife Conservation Officer Bryan Mowrer, Monroe County, said that it's very important for hunters to report tag numbers from animals and waterfowl they harvest."They may get a bear that has an ear tag, or a duck or goose which has been banded," Mowrer said. "Reporting that information helps ongoing research into movement patterns, including the flyways."