|
|
|
Geese in - and out - of Parks
|
| |
| By Maggie Brasted, director, Urban Wildlife Conflict Resolution, The Humane Society of the United St
|
|
|
Ah, summertime in the park! Fresh air; kids playing; Canada geese eating, loafing, and leaving droppings. Large flocks of Canada geese have become common in parks across North America. And where there are geese, there are droppings. And where there are droppings, there are patron complaints. When I was growing up in the suburbs, I never saw a Canada goose. Lately, Canada geese are all over my suburb, and I bet yours, too.
Why Are there so many now?
Once decimated by hunting and habitat loss, the giant Canada goose rebounded after wildlife managers found a wild flock in the 1960s and started breeding the birds and relocating them throughout the U.s. It’s surprising to most people, but birds do not hatch knowing when, where, and how to migrate. they learn from their parents and flock. so, captive-bred geese who had no migrating parents to teach them don’t fly north in the summer to Arctic breeding grounds. Instead, they hang around parks, ball fields, and picnic spots during the same summer months that people want to use those areas.
Why are they in the parks?
Geese are grazers. Our welltended grass is the ultimate free buffet. Geese also want to feel safe. open sight lines on mown grass let them see predators coming. If they feel threatened, parks and golf courses often offer them easy access to safety on open water. Since we’ve provided food and safety in our parks, everything geese need is right here so they settle in and raise families.
Tried and failed
In early attempts to deal with geese, many parks capturing them and trucking them off somewhere else. But moving geese didn’t help the sending park as much as they hope. Geese can fly long distances and, while young geese often settled into their new locations, many adults simply flew back home.
That was the experience in Bend, oregon, where they banded the birds to track their movements. According to paul stell, metro parks director of natural resources, most of the birds returned within days. He joked that some beat the truck back.
Sounds Like a good idea but...
Jennifer Blumenthal, deputy township manager of mountain Laurel township in New Jersey, hoped she had hit on an idea that would make everyone happy. Convince the geese to nest somewhere other than township parks; then geese would not raise goslings in the parks. But, geese are extremely loyal to their nest sites, returning year after year to the same spot. If you get them to give up a nest site, they will just nest nearby.
Then, once goslings hatch, parents may walk their broods up to a couple of miles to raise them. Like suburban families seeking good neighborhoods, parent geese seek places with lots of food and safety to bring up their goslings. so, even if you get geese to nest elsewhere, they will very likely walk their offspring right back to your parks.
Jennifer’s idea brings ups a couple of points that are particularly significance for parks. Goslings cannot fly until early fall and parent geese will not readily abandon them. Also, in the middle of the summer adult geese molt, dropping their flight feathers so they can grow new ones. While molting, the adult geese can’t fly either. This means many parks have many geese who can’t or won’t fly away right at the time of year your patrons use parks the most.
What to do?
People have tried many things to clear parks of geese; all can be grouped into three categories. first, you can limit the growth of flocks by preventing hatching. You do this by treating or removing eggs early in development or by feeding the geese an oral contraceptive. Second, you can harass the geese so that they decide your park is not a safe place and leave. You do this with many different tools including noisemakers, recordings of geese in distress, lasers, and trained dogs who simulate a predator. Third, you can change the habitat so it’s less attractive to geese. You do this by replacing your grassy free buffet with alternative plantings, making grass unpalatable with repellents, and breaking up open sight lines and easy access to open water that make geese feel safe. each of these types of actions helps but doing all three will be the most effective.
Fewer Goslings = fewer adults in parks
Limiting growth of flocks will help many parks in future years. addling and contraception have another significant advantage that helps this year. Geese tending flightless gosling rarely abandon them even when harassed. But, harassment readily convinces geese without gosling to relocate from your parks. Some geese without young will go long distances to molt; geese from the uS have been found molting in northern Ontario.
Fewer geese in the parks this summer
Timing is important. Follow up addling or contraceptive with harassment before the molt to keep flightless geese out of your park in mid-summer. in addition to timing, persistence is key. You have to be more persistent than the geese. Rockford Park district in illinois uses trained and handled dogs, the most effective form of goose harassment. Jan Herbert, Canada Goose Manager Project Manager for the district, says their dogs simply do not allow geese, whether resident or migratory, on district property.
If you don't build it they won't come
The most effective way to have fewer geese in the long term is to make your park habitat less attractive to geese. Close your free buffet to have significantly fewer geese. Some park areas must remain open and grass covered. But where grass is not necessary, alternative landscaping with a variety of plants can also be attractive to patrons.
Geese know that predators can hide behind tall dense plantings. use a variety of heights in your landscaping to make geese wary. Here again, combining techniques works best. Where the landscaping has plenty of possible predator hiding places, harassment works better because wary geese are primed to move.
It Works!
Rockford Park district based its successfully resident Canada goose management on these principles. In 2000, the sevenmile walking path along the rock river was regularly drawing complaints about droppings. The path cleaner would just about get to one end when complaints would start coming in about the other. The district believed they had about 1,200 to 1,500 geese calling their parks home. now, their best estimate is 200 geese. Their program features egg addling followed by harassment with Border collies. They also use fencing to keep flightless geese off grassy areas, lasers, repellents, and public education. Jan Herbert of rockford says, “using only humane methods, Canada geese have been successfully managed in the rockford Park district. Park Commissioners’ phones no longer ring with complaint calls, the path cleaner formerly used twice daily is now only used occasionally, and our resident flock is now greatly diminished.” it can work in your park, too!
For more information contact Maggie Brasted (director, urban Wildlife Conflict resolution) at 301.548.7753 or mbrasted@humanesociety.org.
Additional information:
WHERE TO FIND THE TOOLS...
...TO LIMIT GROWTH OF FLOCKS
.
...TO HARASS GEESE OUT OF PARKS
- Trained and handled herding dogs are most effective. Check for a local goose-dog service. Or consider owning a dog and training a staffer to handle her. Only work with a reputable breed rescue group, trainer, or breeder to acquire a well-trained, eager canine staffer. Start with your local animal shelter, SPCA, or humane society for referrals.
- Noisemaking devices—pyrotechnics, propane cannons, and recordings of geese in distress—are sold by agricultural suppliers (http://www.suttonag.com, http://www.reedjoseph.com).
- Lasers scare away geese roosting on your lake at night (http://www.aviandissuader.com, ,http://www.birdcontrolsupplies.com/laser.htm, http://www.reedjoseph.com)
.
...TO MAKE YOUR PARK UNATTRACTIVE TO GEESE
|
| |
|
|
|
Media Kit
|
