Dark side of Canada geese: With population increasing 6 percent a year, DNR offers information on legal goose controlBy Dawn Hewitt 331-4377 |
dhewitt@heraldt.comSome folks love them: Mated pairs can return to their breeding territory like clockwork. A pair of Canada geese seems to produce an ideal family: a cozy nursery, lovingly attended by faithful parents; little ones who faithfully follow mom and dad wherever they go; a big family that sticks together for a long time.
Some people become distraught when a skunk steals eggs or a coyote or snapping turtle eats some of the young, and they worry about “their” geese when hunting season starts.
Other folks hate them: They can make an awful mess of a lakeshore, dock, yard or golf course. They have so many offspring that sometimes become as aggressive as a gang of thugs, scaring children and threatening golfers.
According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the population of Canada geese in the Mississippi Flyway exceeds 1.5 million birds and is growing at a rate of 6 percent per year.
Love ’em or hate ’em, Canada geese are protected by the International Migratory Bird Treaty, even though they may be legally hunted in season.
As a protected species, it is not legal to destroy their nests or eggs, to shoot them out of season or in populated areas or to poison them. It’s also illegal to shoot at them with BB guns or paintballs.
But if you register with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it is legal to interfere with their nesting on property you own. Destroying eggs and nests — with a permit — is helpful in controlling the goose population and reducing goose problems in areas where hunting cannot take place.
Simply breaking or removing eggs from a nest is ineffective — and illegal without a permit — because mother goose will lay more to compensate.
Federal rules allow landowners to destroy Canada goose nests and “addle” eggs on their own property between March 1 and June 30, but only after they have registered online at
www.fws.gov/permits/mbpermits/gooseeggregistration.html.
Each registered landowner must report the number of nests with eggs destroyed by Oct. 31.
A report is required even if no nests or eggs were destroyed. Registration is valid for one nesting season and must be renewed each year before nests and eggs may be destroyed.
Addling eggs can involve dipping them in corn oil so air cannot penetrate the shell; puncturing the shell or shaking the egg. The parent geese will continue incubation, but the eggs won’t hatch.
But the wildlife service requires landowners to use nonlethal goose management techniques first to minimize the need to destroy nests and eggs. Such methods include landscape modification to make the area less attractive to resident geese; harassment and hazing with dogs or lasers; and use of repellents.
Shannon Winks is an urban wildlife biologist with the DNR, based in Bloomington. She’s been offering goose control seminars across the state recently.
Winks said the workshops include methods for legally and effectively disrupting nesting, but also focus on preemptively deterring geese from nesting, including “making sure people realize they should not feed waterfowl. In a lot of homeowner associations and subdivisions, there are conflicts because some neighbors feed (ducks and geese), and some don’t want them there. ... We talk about habitat modification, changing landscaping. A lot of people want mowed turf grass to water’s edge,” Winks said, noting that geese find such open grassy areas much to their liking.
“In some urban and suburban areas, we’ve created goose havens, with water surrounded by turf grass. They’re grazers who love to eat grass, and in such areas, there is no hunting and no predators. They often choose those areas over rural locations, probably because of turf grass,” Winks said.
“They like open areas to see if there are predators, so putting in evergreens, warm season grasses, things at their eye level — it makes them too nervous to nest,” Winks said.
There are other benefits to putting in taller plants close to water’s edge: “It’s environmentally friendly. It helps prevent shoreline erosion and filters lawn chemicals, so it improves water quality.”
She said there are other methods to deter geese, too, that don’t require a permit, including use of loud noises, dogs and lasers shined toward geese (but not in their eyes). She said there are a few companies in the state that rent dogs to chase geese into water, preventing nesting.
She said motion-activated water hoses also can keep geese away from the shoreline.
Winks said her seminars recommend a combination of prevention techniques to get the maximum benefit.
Combined with landscape modification, geese deterrent techniques can be very effective.
But she noted that geese have strong homing instincts and can live for 20 years. Unless a habitat becomes undesirable for geese, homeowners will need to make deterrence an ongoing effort.
Winks said her job also includes helping cities, neighborhoods and parks become more friendly to wildlife.
She helps municipalities write ordinances that encourage humans and wildlife to peaceably co-exist while development is still in the planning process, so that geese and other wildlife can have a place of their own.
Are you fighting with wildlife?The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provide a hot line for wildlife conflicts at 800-893-4116. Two wildlife specialist staff the line 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
The hot line also has a Web site,
www.wildlifehotline.info
