At peace with fewer geese
City crews are reportedly cleaning up less goose poop
The Great St. Catharines Goose Round Up of July 2016 seems to be paying off a month later.
City crews are reportedly cleaning up less goose poop and the city is getting fewer complaints from residents since 500 geese were driven out of town.
“We feel we’ve had good results,” said Jeffery Silcox-Childs, manager of parks, cemeteries, forestry and horticulture. “We’ve noticed a decline in the numbers.”
Silcox-Childs said crews are seeing fewer goose feces in the waterfront parks in the last month so there’s a better quality of turf and walkways.
In a typical year, he said crews powerwash walkways and clean up after geese five times a week on average. Since the goose relocation in June, they’ve only had to go out about once a week.
The city has also received fewer complaints from residents than they typically get by mid-summer.
Still, Silcox-Childs said the full effects of goose management efforts — which include habitat modifications and egg oiling — won’t be seen for years.
“We weren’t expecting instant results,” he said. “We’re in this for the long game. It’s a slow reduction in the goose numbers.”
City council voted in July 2015 to relocate geese for the first time because of numerous feces in lakeside parks, reports of geese attacks and birds interfering with rowers during the Pan Am Games. It received a three-year permit from Canada Wildlife Services.
A contractor corralled about 500 moulting geese from Henley Island and Rennie Park on June 15 and 16. The birds were trucked to a farm in Amherstburg with the goal of changing their migratory patterns in the future.
The city’s move came after more than 15 years of trying to deter the large bird population from hanging out in Port Dalhousie because of the sticky grass and slippery sidewalks they create.
Since 1999, staff or contractors have employed harassment techniques such as running after them with horns, using off-leash dogs to chase them, shining laser pointers in the water, spraying grass with soapy water and scaring them with plastic dead goose decoys.
Silcox-Childs said they ’ve stopped harassment techniques this summer, which were only short-term fixes. They’ll only entertain bringing back the dogs if there’s a specific event happening with a lot of geese around.
The city’s efforts are now focused on reducing numbers through habitat modification, such as planting beds or keeping the grass long between the water and the parks. He said it makes the areas less desirable for the geese because when they’re flightless during moulting period and want easy access from land to water.
Silcox-Childs said the city’s problem is migrant geese that come to its waterfronts and ramp up the numbers in mid-June during the moulting season.
“Unfortunately, that’s also when park users want to be in the park,” he said.
Five pollinator gardens are being installed in Rennie park and island this summer.
The city is also oiling more goose eggs on city properties than in previous years to prevent hatching. Silcox-Childs said that again is part of a long-term approach because geese can live on average 25 years, so it takes a long time to see an impact.
“We certainly don’t want to get rid of all the geese. That is definitely not our approach,” he said. “We like the geese. People like the geese.
“They’re an asset to the park, in the right number.”
It’s estimated the city will still be home to 1,000 geese this summer.