October 3, 2009

Solving Problems with Canada Geese

Canada geese are said to be overabundant, but droppings on lawns is no reason to sentence them to death

Adapted from the book Wild Neighbors

The most lasting way to avoid goose problems is to change the habitat. Jeffery Irish

The main problem people have with Canada geese is aesthetic—droppings on grass and walkways. Large flocks of Canada geese have become common in parks, golf courses, and other open space across North America. And where there are geese, there are droppings.

People have been hearing a lot about Canada geese and other birds causing problems for aircraft. For the safety of air travelers and wildlife both, airports need safety programs. And they have choices on how they conduct them.

Humane programs have been successfully resolving conflicts with resident Canada geese in many communities for many years. Some are GeesePeace programs. This national organization emphasizes effective long-term humane solutions, while building communities by promoting cooperative. Other programs develop their own humane plan and implement it. Humane programs can work in other communities with goose conflicts.

What attracts Canada geese to urban areas?
Common problems and solutions

Why killing geese doesn't work
Public health and Canada geese
Resources

What attracts Canada geese to urban areas?

Once decimated by hunting and habitat loss, Canada geese rebounded after captive birds were released throughout the U.S. People may be surprised that birds learn to migrate from their parents and flock—they don't hatch with this complex knowledge. So, released geese never learned to fly north but took up local residence year-round.

Canada geese are grazers. Our well-tended 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, golf courses, and stormwater management ponds offer them easy access to safety on open water.

Since we've provided food and safety, everything geese need is right here in our cities and suburbs so they settle in and raise families.

Common problems and solutions

For nearly all common conflicts, there are three basic types of humane solutions.

Each of these helps, but doing all three will be the most effective. Each helps the others work better.

Where problems are limited, simply cleaning up may be enough. In addition to hoses and brooms for walkways, you can use specialized landscape equipment to sweep up droppings on lawn areas.

Limit flock growth

There are two ways to humanely limit flock growth.

Treat eggs or remove them from incubation (also called addling) so they don't hatch.

Addle at the earliest stages of development before embryos are too advanced to humanely stop development.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service no longer requires special permits to addle in the lower 48 states. However, you must register with the Service first.
Some states require you to get their permission first.

Feed Canada geese contraception.

OvoControl G, registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency, is a non-hormonal oral hatch control drug.
Only licensed pest control operators can use OvoControl G.
US Fish and Wildlife Service must issue a permit. State permission may also be required.

Harass geese so they decide to leave

Some ways to scare geese away work better than others. All work better where the landscaping makes geese wary. All work much better where you have addled or used contraception so geese are not tending flightless gosling. Until their young can fly at the end of summer, even persistent harassment may not shift geese.

Geese lose their fear of simple scare devices quickly. You may get some short-term relieve and, if that's all you need, these may help. But for the most part, these scare devices have little lasting effect. Geese are simply smarter than that.

Flags, eyespot balloons, and Mylar® tape.
Floating alligator heads and dead goose decoys.
Fake owls and snakes, scarecrows, or other effigies, especially ones that don't move.
Coyote and other canine effigies or cutouts, with one possible exception. Where geese have learned to fear real coyotes or where trained goose-herding dogs are regularly working, fake canines may keep geese on their toes a little longer.

Frightening noises can work a little better. But, geese get used to noises quickly, especially in noisy neighborhoods and if the geese see no other reason to be scared. Frightening noises work much better if the geese see a mobile threat such as people shooing them or goose-herding dogs.

Lasers specially designed to scare birds are useful at dusk as geese are settling down for the night. Scaring birds away from night roosts means they will start their day elsewhere.

Methyl anthranilate, grape flavoring in our food, can be dispersed as a fog that irritates geese so they leave the area immediately. This acts something like pepper spray does on mammals.

The most effective way to scare geese away is with trained goose-herding dogs. Herding dogs convince geese they are not safe from predators. Only trained dogs working with a handler should harass geese. Dogs should never catch or harm geese. And dogs must be well treated and kept safe on the job as the valued employees they are.

Change the habitat

The most lasting way to avoid goose problems, and often the most cost-effective in the long run, is to change the habitat. The goals are to reduce goose food and increase the birds' wariness of potential danger.

Habitat changes will work better if geese can go somewhere else that meets their needs—tolerance zones. Leave geese tolerance zones alone and leave geese in tolerance zones alone. Then geese will leave zero-tolerance zones more readily.

Like most of us, if Canada geese find their favorite food spread out in easy reach, they will eat it. But, you can close the free buffet.

Reduce the total amount of lawn.
Where you keep lawn, reduce the young grass shoots geese like the most. Let grass grow taller—at least 6 inches and leave tall grass over winter. Stop or limit watering and fertilizing.
Replace Kentucky bluegrass (aka "goose candy") with other grasses such as tall fescue. This works where geese can eat somewhere else. They will eat fescue and almost any short grass or legume if that's all there is.
To reduce food for a short period, treat grass with chemical repellents. Anthraquinone triggers a strong, harmless digestive irritation and teaches geese to avoid treated areas. Methyl anthranilate is a grape flavoring in our food. To geese, it just tastes real bad. Repellents last only as long as the grass they are sprayed on and as long as geese remember.
Stop hand feeding geese. Human food is not healthy for them and geese will gather where they are fed.

Geese feel safe from predators where there are open sight lines, so they can see predators coming, and where they can easily escape onto open water.

Use dense tall plantings along shorelines to make a barrier between the food and the water.
Add variety to landscaping with clumps of taller plantings where predators could hide.
Locate ball fields and other grassy expanses as far from open water as possible.
Maintain or establish stands of trees between water and grass so geese can't fly through.
When geese are tending flightless young and during the molt when they can't fly themselves, short fences can keep geese from walking between food and water.

Droppings on grass

Where the main conflict is droppings on a relatively small area, effective harassment may go a long way to clear things up. Once harassment is in place, consider if it may be helpful to address flock size. You may need to coordinate this with neighbors. Finally, if simply continuing harassment is not enough, change the habitat for a long-term solution.

Large flocks in public places

It's one thing to shoo a few geese off a back lawn. Convincing a large flock that has used a park for years that they ought to go elsewhere requires a plan. A coordinated program will save in the long run and be more successful. Develop a plan that integrates the most appropriate strategies and uses them in the most effective manner.

To be effective, do things at biologically appropriate times. For example, attempting to harass geese off a site when they are nesting, rearing flightless goslings, or molting will frustrate people and cause geese unnecessary stress. It won't fix the goose problem.

Your plan needs to take the calendar of goose behavior into account. This chart shows the typical timing for resident Canada goose populations in eastern and mid-western US. For other locations, timing will be similar and the sequence will be the same.

Around airports

Airport safety programs can keep the flying public safe and be humane. The best programs use long-term strategies to permanently reduce the conditions that attract geese to airports.

Repeatedly killing wild animals does not improve safety. Killing merely opens habitat for other geese to fill. The answer is to treat the problem at the source—make airports and surrounding areas undesirable habitat to the birds while preventing flock growth with addling, contraception, or both.

Geese defending nests and goslings

Canada geese tenaciously defend their nests and goslings. Unsuspecting pedestrians can get too close and inadvertently provoke the gander (the male goose).

Once you find a nest, prevent this problem with highly visible markings, nose cones with caution tape, for example. Let people who regularly use the area know that the geese will defend their nest until the eggs hatch but leave afterwards.

Whether parents are defending a nest or goslings, simply back away from hissing geese—being careful not to fall. Gently shooing a family (slowly) away from high-traffic locations can move them on if they are likely to be approached repeatedly.

Why killing geese doesn't work

Frustration with Canada goose mess in public places can make people look for a quick fix and consider killing the geese to get rid of the mess. In a few communities, geese have been rounded up during the molt when they can't fly away and either gassed or shipped to slaughter. In others, hunters have been allowed to shoot geese in parks and on golf courses.

Killing wild animals merely because they are inconvenient is not humane. It is also highly controversial , driving communities in opposing directions as those who advocate killing birds confront those who are equally committed to non-lethal conflict resolution.

Federal law protects Canada geese, however, that only means people cannot harm birds without US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) permission. USFWS frequently gives permission to kill Canada geese in urban and suburban areas.

Killing geese without changing attractive habitat and limiting flock growth will not solve conflicts with Canada geese very long. Other geese will simply move into the vacated habitat.

Killing is not a permanent fix but the public controversy may become a permanent fixture in the community. An integrated humane plan can resolve conflicts between people and geese and among the people too.

Public health and Canada geese

Scientific studies do not show that goose droppings pose any special health threats. Obviously, people want to avoid contact with any animal droppings. Ordinary good hygiene, such as washing hands and leaving shoes at the door, are adequate prevention if you accidently contact animal droppings.

Resources

» If you are located within the D.C. Metro Area, take advantage of our wildlife conflict resolution service. Learn More
» Purchase a copy of Wild Neighbors; the go-to guide for useful, humane solutions to conflicts with wildlife

Solving Problems with Canada Geese

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