Geese on the Doorstep

GEESE ON THE DOORSTEP

Wednesday, May 23, 2007 (Napanee Beaver)

Friday, May 25, 2007 (Picton Gazette)

I always get a few calls every year about unwanted Canada geese. I guess it’s because they are experiencing a population increase, and they seem to be turning up everywhere. I don’t really know. But nobody seems to want them on their front lawns. And I can’t really blame them, having seen what they can leave behind. However, it is a struggle to convince callers that it’s not the goose’s fault they are there, and it is not the fault of some environmental agency picked at random from the phone book. Neither is it my duty as a naturalist to come and remove them. No kidding – I once had a fellow demand that I come and pick up “your geese”.

Despite an increasing movement to naturalizing shorelines in an ongoing effort to minimize fertilizer and herbicide runoff into our watercourses, and to protect the shoreline from erosion, there are still those who insist on mowing their lawns right to the water’s edge; and therein lies the problem. Canada geese love manicured lawns, and lawns lovingly trimmed right to the incoming waves is like erecting a flashing neon sign and rolling out a huge green welcome mat for these winged creatures.

Thankfully, many shoreline property owners are gradually beginning to realize there is a side to country living other than picture perfect lawns rank with the smell of 2-4-D . But you can have the best of both worlds. It just requires a bit of compromising. Creating a shoreline buffer zone of native vegetation reduces shoreline erosion and impedes runoff. A hardened shoreline on the other hand eliminates that “natural filter,” and actually ends up degrading water quality, by allowing lawn maintenance run-off.

Buffer zones of natural vegetation such as wildflowers, native bushes and grasses, will attract many species of desirable wildlife, and will go a long way in discouraging the presence of Canada geese since they prefer unimpeded access to the lawn. There are various scare tactics that can be used, none of which by themselves prove very effective unless they are rotated periodically. Bird scare tape, shiny ribbons of Mylar that flashes in the sun and rattles in the wind, can be effective, as can a series of small balloons tethered on monofilament fishing line so they rise a few feet in the air. Geese do not like to walk or feed under moving objects. Double strands of electric fence have also proven to be a successful deterrent to geese aimlessly waddling up on shore.

All are short tern solutions, and as long as the manicured lawn continues to exist that geese feel has been created just for them as a goose pasture, there will always be problems. And threatening to shoot the interlopers if “someone doesn’t do something about it” does absolutely nothing to endear me toward their problem either. Removal of the geese is also only temporary, since Nature dislike a void and more geese will move in to occupy the space, as long as the attractant is there to draw them in. I am sure everyone has experienced the frustration in trying to remove what they initially believed to be two or three squirrels from their feeders, only to end the season with the removal of 55. Nature doesn’t work that way. Remove one, and two more will fill the space, if the feed or conditions are there to attract them.

I once had someone e-mail me about a raccoon problem. Raccoons were getting into their garbage every night and they asked what could be done to prevent this from continuing. I searched within the e-mail for something in the message I had surely missed, but ended up stating, quite simply, to either keep the garbage in a raccoon proof receptacle, or not put it out at the curb at all until morning. I never heard another word, and I am confident that this is not the answer this person was expecting to hear. I am sure the sender of the e-mail expected someone on a white horse to come riding in, scoop up the raccoon, and that would be the end of the problem.

So called nuisance animals is not an “agency problem,” it is a landowner problem, and the problem of Canada geese on lawns is one that requires public education on how to properly manage shorelines. I have information that can guide homeowners into managing and protecting their shorelines and I would be happy to mail information to them, or discuss options over the phone.

A brochure made possible by Conservation Ontario, Ontario Stewardship, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations, says, ” We rely on shorelines for sustenance. Our health, our children’s health, and the long term value of our waterfront property depend on how we care for the shore – the ‘ribbon of life’.”