Canada geese can be a problem. (And yes, it’s “Canada” geese, not “Canadian” geese, although some Canada geese do live in Canada.) When nesting, they have a tendency to become aggressive, rushing at any passerby with a hissing sound and wings extended; these are, mind you, big, powerful birds, and when they strike, they tend to use their surprisingly hard keratinous bills and their wing elbows to good effect.
This has led some of my circle of friends, who have some experience with these big birds, to refer to them as “Hate Birds, the Birds that Hate.”
As it happens, Canada — arguably the homeland of Canada geese — is grappling with problems caused by the big birds.
Several cities, including Sudbury, Ottawa and Toronto, have implemented goose management plans. (Sault Ste. Marie Councillor Angela) Caputo said these cities have reported up to a 50 per cent reduction in geese after the strategies were implementted.
James St. John, superintendent of horticulture for the City of Greater Sudbury, said geese are still causing challenges for the city, as well as for farmers, golf courses and anyone with well-maintained grass. Sudbury’s goose management program involves hiring contractors to conduct site visits aimed at scaring off the geese.
“We incorporate a few different hazing techniques to scare them off land back into the water… we try to push them back into the water so that they’re not defecating on the grass,” said St. John.
“They use a combination of canines to scare away the geese. They also use bangers, which is just a loud noise maker, and they also use lasers targeted at the usually dominant geese which will help scare them away.”
It’s a big honkin’ problem. Rumor has it that they also tried loud music to scare the birds away but found that didn’t work. The geese proved to be fond of honk-ey tonk music.
Note that these are all non-lethal techniques. None of these will solve the ultimate problem, namely, an overpopulation of Branta canadensis. Relocation just shifts the issue to another location.
See Related: Mountain Lions: Coming Soon to a Patch of Forest Near You!
King Bestows Royal Title on Goat Breed
Being of the sort who prefers wild-caught protein, I’ve ingested a fair amount of Canada goose over the years, and it’s pretty good eating unless you have aller-geese. When we lived in Colorado along the Front Range, there were Canada geese in the hundreds of thousands passing through every fall, and a buddy of mine had a leased goose pit up around Severance, and we brought a lot of the big birds to the pot. They are, if handled properly, good eating, with dark, rich meat.
And therein lies the key to the problem; I have traveled enough in Canada and have had enough Canuck pals to know that, much like the United States, Canada has its share of country folks who would happily put some Hate Birds in their freezer, and would be downright creative in developing means to capture these urban birds. I suspect, though, that these Sudbury, Toronto, and Ottawa geese are much like pigeons: Clean farm-country pigeons are good eating, but I wouldn’t lay jaws on a city-raised winged rat. The same would apply to geese, and the problem these Canadian towns are having is with urban goose populations. It’s at least a dis-gooseion they should have — the better to foc-goose on the goal.
Some Canadians, though, are overtly taking the side of the geese — and I suggest you let that marinate.
