Effect of Goose Removals on a Suburban Canada Goose Population

• Main Authors: Swift, Bryan L., Chipman, Richard B., Preusser, Kenneth J.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 2009
• Subjects: Life Sciences; Canada; Branta canadensis; Canada Goose
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wdmconference/2009/session5/2; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1264&context=wdmconference

Local-nesting or "resident" Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are coming into conflict with people and human activities in urban-suburban areas throughout North America. Capture and removal of molting geese, followed by translocation or euthanasia, is a simple way to reduce the number of geese in an area, but some critics of lethal goose control methods claim that other geese will quickly fill the void left when geese are removed from a problem area. To better understand the effectiveness of urban-suburban goose removal programs, we captured 591 resident geese (mostly adult birds) in suburban Rockland County, New York, during the summer molt, 2004 and 2005. The birds were transported, marked with neck and leg bands and released in a rural area approximately 320 km to the northwest. Band returns indicated that at least 46% of translocated geese were eventually harvested by hunters, most of those (52%) during the first September hunting season after release, and most (72%) were taken within 50 km of the release site. Neckband observations indicated that <10% of translocated birds returned to Rockland County, and few (<1%) moved to suburban areas near the release site. Annual molting period goose surveys throughout Rockland County from 2004- 2008 indicated that removal of geese from selected sites in Clarkstown resulted in nearly 60% fewer geese town wide for three subsequent years, and other geese did not quickly move in to replace birds that we removed. This study demonstrated that goose removal can be an effective way to reduce local goose populations in some areas for at least three years.