And so we're in it - the final week to 10 days of stockpiling and processing food, strengthening and testing muscles (not to talk of internal physiological changes which we know little about). But enough about the Brent research team, the geese themselves will be going through this.
We know that female body weight will continue to increase over the coming week, right up to departure; male index profiles (an index of body 'condition') on the other hand, plateaus off this week. Such information based on repeated scoring (visual) of 'belly profiles' of marked individuals throughout the spring staging period, an index calibrated against biometrics of birds at times of capture. It is always amusing to observe the 'fat-bottomed girls' getting progressively fatter as the month progresses. Photos of v fat geese will be posted in due course.
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