Estimating the Size of Georgia's Resident Canada Goose Population

• Main Author: Balkcom, Gregory D.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Digital Commons @ the Georgia Academy of Science 2021
• Subjects: Canada goose; Branta canadensis; banding; Georgia; harvest; harvest rate; Lincoln Estimator; population estimate; recovery rate; Ornithology; Statistical Models; Zoology; Canada; Canada Goose
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.gaacademy.org/gjs/vol79/iss2/1; https://digitalcommons.gaacademy.org/context/gjs/article/2221/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf

Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are an important waterfowl species in Georgia, and are hunted across the state. To meet management objectives, managers need to understand the impacts of hunting regulations on the population of interest. Therefore, reliable population estimates are necessary. Population size can be estimated by various methods, including aerial surveys, ground surveys, or population indices such as the Lincoln Estimator. I used annual estimates of resident Canada goose harvest in Georgia from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Harvest Information Program along with banding and recovery data from the Bird Banding Laboratory in a bias-adjusted version of the Lincoln Estimator. Because of annual variation in the population estimates among years, I compared various trendlines across years, and the top three models generated an average 2018 population estimate of 231,274 resident Canada geese in Georgia.