Use of Alarm/Alert Call Playback and Human Harassment to End Canada Goose Problems at an Ohio Business Park

• Main Author: Whitford, Philip C.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 2003
• Subjects: Life Sciences; Canada; Dayton; Branta canadensis; Canada Goose
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wdmconference/2003/session4/9; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=wdmconference

Burgeoning resident Canada goose (Branta canadensis) populations have led to increased goose/human conflicts. Playback of recorded goose alarm/alert calls coupled with human harassment was used to attempt removal of resident geese from a 24.2 ha business park, Dayton, Ohio, 26 February-15 August 2002. Many geese present were reusing nest territories of previous years. Removal efforts began following territorial establishment. Call playback used 3 "Goosebuster" units (Bird-X Corp. Inc., 300 N. Elizabeth, Chicago IL 60607). Goose use of the property dropped from an estimated 1600-1800 goose hrs/day before testing to fewer than 150 goose hrs/day by week three and to 0 hours by May. Reports of goose aggression or injury to employees fell from 32 and 2 cases in 2001 , respectively, to 0 for both in 2002. Harassment effort declined from a maximum of 3-4 hrs/day to under 15 min/day by week 5. Goose droppings counted per 100 m of walks fell significantly F 3, 24 = 30.048, P< 0.0001, from a mean of 195.7 on 26 February to 3.28 on 24 March 2002, a 97.88 % reduction, and remained low. Continued alarm call playback at random 10-20 min settings appeared to help prevent return/recolonization of the property by geese.