A Canada Goose Story

A Canada Goose Story

By Bill Willis

May, 2016

Canadian Geese on NIEHS lawn
Photo courtesy of NIEHS

The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), with its black head and neck, and characteristic white “chinstrap,” is a magnificent bird and a longtime mainstay of local grounds. Encountering a gaggle of geese and their goslings serves as a relaxing backdrop to the already park-like setting of the NIEHS campus.

Coexisting with these feathered friends, however, is not without its challenges.

The Research Triangle region of North Carolina hosts one of the largest permanent (non-migratory) populations of Canada Geese in the nation — the NIEHS campus in particular as it’s an ideal habitat for the species. This has led to an increased population of both migratory and permanent populations, in addition to rising employee concerns over excessive walkway droppings, aggressive bird behavior, and the not-so-occasional traffic encounter.

Canada Goose Ducklings
Photo courtesy of NIEHS

Various approaches have been used to control the onsite goose population in an acceptable and effective manner. In the past, these have included strategic landscape plantings and permitted nest management techniques, but such measures are no longer used, as geese numbers have decreased.

Beyond the NIEHS campus, Canada Geese are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This makes interfering with birds and nesting activities subject to restrictions outside of hunting season.

 

Check all the other types of birds you might find on the EPA/NIEHS RTP Campus:

  1. Acadian Flycatcher
  2. American Black Duck
  3. American Coot
  4. American Crow
  5. American Goldfinch
  6. American Kestrel
  7. American Redstart
  8. American Robin
  9. American Wigeon
  10. Bald Eagle
  11. Barn Swallow
  12. Baltimore Oriole
  13. Belted Kingfisher
  14. Black Duck
  15. Black Vulture
  16. Black-and-white
  17. Black-throated Blue
  18. Blackburnian Warbler
  19. Blue Grosbeak
  20. Blue Jay
  21. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
  22. Blue-winged Teal
  23. Bonaparte's Gull
  24. Broad-winged Hawk
  25. Brown Thrasher
  26. Brown-headed
  27. Bufflehead
  28. Canada Goose
  29. Canvasback
  30. Carolina Chickadee
  31. Carolina Wren
  32. Cedar Waxwing
  33. Chimney Swift
  34. Chipping Sparrow
  35. Common Grackle
  36. Common Loon
  37. Common Yellowthroat
  38. Cooper's Hawk
  39. Dark-eyed Junco
  40. Double-crested
  41. Down Woodpecker
  42. Eastern Bluebird
  43. Eastern Kingbird
  44. Eastern Phoebe
  45. Eastern Towhee
  46. European Starling
  47. Field Sparrow
  48. Fish Crow
  49. Fox Sparrow
  50. Golden-crowned
  51. Gray Catbird
  52. Great Blue Heron
  53. Great Crested
  54. Great Egret
  55. Greater Scaup
  56. Green Heron
  57. Green-winged Teal
  58. Hairy Woodpecker
  59. Hermit Thrush
  60. Hooded Merganser
  61. Hooded Warbler
  62. Horned Grebe
  63. House Finch
  64. House Sparrow
  65. Indigo Bunting
  66. Killdeer
  67. Least Flycatcher
  68. Lesser Scaup
  69. Louisiana
  70. Magnolia Warbler
  71. Mallard
  72. Merlin
  73. Mourning Dove
  74. Northern Cardinal
  75. Northern Flicker
  76. Northern Mockingbird
  77. Northern Parula
  78. Northern Rough
  79. Northern Shoveler
  80. Northern Waterthrush
  81. Orchard Oriole
  82. Osprey
  83. Ovenbird
  84. Palm Warbler
  85. Pied-billed Grebe
  86. Pileated Woodpecker
  87. Pine Siskin
  88. Pine Warbler
  89. Purple Martin
  90. Red-bellied
  91. Red-breasted Nuthatch
  92. Red-eyed Vireo
  93. Red-headed
  94. Red-shouldered Hawk
  95. Red-tailed Hawk
  96. Red-throated Loon
  97. Red-winged Blackbird
  98. Redhead
  99. Ring-billed Gull
  100. Ring-necked Duck
  101. Rock Pigeon
  102. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  103. Ruby-throated
  104. Ruddy Duck
  105. Scarlet Tanager
  106. Sharp-shinned Hawk
  107. Solitary Sandpiper
  108. Song Sparrow
  109. Spotted Sandpiper
  110. Summer Tanager
  111. Tree Swallow
  112. Tufted Titmouse
  113. Turkey Vulture
  114. Veery
  115. White-breasted
  116. White-throated
  117. Wood Duck
  118. Wild Turkey
  119. Yellow-bellied
  120. Yellow-breasted Chat
  121. Yellow-rumped
  122. Yellow-throated Vireo
  123. Yellow Warbler

Looking Forward

The campus Wildlife and Industry Together (WAIT) program will soon begin monitoring area geese to better understand the size of their breeding population, as well as the effect migratory birds are having on total bird counts. From last fall to this spring, geese numbers fluctuated from a low of 6 to a high of 120 as migrating birds stopped to feed on their flights elsewhere.

Canada Geese in lake
Photo courtesy of NIEHS

WAIT is also coordinating with the Comparative Medicine Branch to monitor North Carolina Department of Agriculture and U.S. Center for Disease Control communications on avian flu in the Tar Heel state.

(Bill Willis is a biologist with the NIEHS Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory, and a regular contributor to the Grapevine.)

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