On this map, the goose's flight path and direction are indicated by the lines with arrows. The numbers that you see are julian dates.
Scientists use julian dates because they are easy to add and subtract.
In the julian system, January First is 1, January Second is 2, and so on. December 31 is sometimes 365 and sometimes 366, as it was in 1996, a leap year. Wildlife Refuges are indicated by the green duck symbol. You can see the previous progress of this Snow Goose by using the back arrow at the bottom of this page.