Canada Geese: From Endangered to Nuisance

If your community has a pond or lake on the property, then you probably have had to deal with problems related to native Canada geese populations. While the federal government considers all Canada geese to be migratory and therefore protected, not all populations actually migrate. In the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., there are resident, non-migratory populations of Canada geese that plague our communities year round. Because the government considers Canada Geese to be a protected migratory species, the methods available to control them are highly regulated and very limited.

How did we end up with non-migratory geese? In the 1950s, Canada geese were placed on the federal endangered list of migratory birds. Around the same time, some animal lovers who really didn’t understand animal behavior decided to do something to increase the seriously depleted population of Canada geese. They began to steal eggs from their nests to raise in captivity. The removal of these eggs caused the geese to clutch a second time, doubling the number of baby geese each year. The stolen eggs were hatched and raised in captivity with no adult migratory geese to teach them to migrate. So they stayed here. This practice continued for a number of years, resulting in the current large population of resident Canada geese that live in our area today.

How can you control your geese population?

First and foremost, nothing works absolutely or forever. In fact, these methods only work as long as you continue with the plan. If you stop, they come back. Geese are smarter than you think.
Visual Harassment: Some experts recommend the use of decoys in the form of owls on poles around the pond or lake or swans floating in the pond itself. Geese are smart enough that this does not work for long. After a few weeks, they get the idea that the owls/swans don’t move and begin to ignore them. If you can entice a real swan to make its home in your pond, it will keep the geese away as long as the swan lives there.
Audible Harassment: Audible alarms that sound at irregular intervals can scare the geese away. However, once they figure out that the sound comes from the same place all the time and nothing bad happens afterwards, it stops working. You can also harass geese with a starter pistol. If you try it, please make sure ALL your residents and neighbors know what you are doing so that they are not unduly frightened by what sounds like gunfire. The starter pistols work better because the sounds come from different directions all the time, but like everything else, the harassment must continue or the geese will come back.
Chemical Treatments: There are a number of chemical products that serve to deter geese from landing in a particular place. Most of these products must be applied by licensed persons. These treatments act in different ways. For example, “In-Flight” registers red when the geese look at it. When they eat it, it makes them mildly sick. Between the color and the illness, they learn to avoid areas treated with this chemical. Chemicals must be re-applied at regular intervals and some are washed away with rain. They can also prove to be an expensive solution.
Dogs: Dogs are nature’s best deterrent. There are services that offer contracts to bring trained dogs on the property to chase the geese. This is not something that the residents’ poodles can do in their spare time. Only certain breeds of dogs are good for this purpose. Border Collies and Australian Sheperds are the best choices. Again, this has to be done regularly or the geese come back.
Egg addling and extermination: You must have a federal license to use either of these methods. The application is not easy to complete and it takes a long time to get approval. The license is only good for one year, so if you successfully obtain a license, use it immediately. There are companies that perform these services for you under your license. They addle (shake up) the eggs or oil them. This kills the viable embryos without removing the eggs from the nest as an empty nest will trigger the geese to clutch again. They can also exterminate the adult geese and donate the carcasses to homeless shelters for food – so it’s not an environmental waste. This method is expensive and addling/oiling only works if the nests are on your property. They may be on a neighboring property which will make your job harder as you will have to convince the property owner to cooperate with your community and allow the eggs in the nests on their property to be addled/oiled.

Geese can’t fly when they have goslings. It’s nature’s way of making them be good parents. Because of this, they don’t travel far in the spring baby season. If they are on your property then, the nests are nearby. By July/August, they are beginning to fly again as the goslings are now old enough to fly with them. If you only see them later in the season, their nests are probably nowhere near your property so it will not help you to apply for a license to addle, but extermination is still an option. Even extermination isn’t a permanent solution. If your pond is an attractive food source, new geese will find their way to your community.

The only method that is proven over time is changing the landscaping. It won’t give you immediate results, but in the long run it works best. Natural plantings along the edge of your ponds like tall grasses, cat tails, etc. deter the geese. They don’t like anything predators can hide in and they like to be able to walk into the water. Plants prevent them from doing that. Until the new landscaping is established, you can wire the ponds. It works somewhat until you can get plants growing, but again the geese are smarter than you think. After they’ve encountered the wires a time or two, both goslings and adult geese walk over and under the wires.

What we all hope for is that eventually the census of Canada geese populations will demonstrate that they no longer need to be designated as protected, opening the species up for sport hunting to control overpopulation.

Cindy Simpson, CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®
Community Manager
Mid-Atlantic Management
Warwick, PA