Canada Geese

[check]

Hello all, we had a visit from Canada geese at our rental cottage for the first time in the eight years that we have owned the place. Of course they left their droppings all over the nice front lawn. Since this has never happened before I’m looking for ideas for how to keep them away. Probably something like a motion detector, combined with something that would scare them. Of course it cannot be something that annoys the renters who will be on the front lawn at the fire pit, etc.

These guys are not very skittish, either. When we drove up, they did not fly away, and I had to come running out of the car screaming and yelling and waving my arms to get them to fly off.

Any ideas would be much appreciated, my fellow TBNers!

 

[EddieWalker]

I've always wanted this problem. I've seen a couple in my pond in the last ten years, but it's very rare and they never left any fertilizer on my pastures. I've heard that golf courses have a lot of problems with them and if it's really bad, I would try to figure out what they do.

 

[awhelan]

Most likely, others are feeding them nearby.
Try this, make a little fence ot of string or tape 6" high, placed on little sticks etc. along the edge of the lawn next to the water. The geese won't step over it. Make it continious.
This will only work if they are coming in via the water, you need to make it too hard for them to land directly on the lawn.

Usually if you combine that with chasing them away whenever you can, tey will move on.
This worked for my friend at his home up here in cottage country. He also had chat with his "cottager" neighbours about feeding the "pretty" birds all day long!

 

[hayden]

Shoot one or two of them. They won't come back. I promise.

 

[Sono]

Shoot one or two of them. They won't come back. I promise.

That's exactly how... Once they establish territory they will return in flocks year after year and growing in numbers... stop it now or soon youll be ran out. Im surprised they ran off with yelling and arm waving, they are some mean a** birds and will attack.
Be careful tho, as they are protected in some areas !

 

[denchen]

A plastic owl will keep most birds away but I guess these geese will not worry about one of them. Now if you could get something that looks like a fox and put it in a corner.

 

[Blaszer]

We have an acre pond that is part of our "front" yard. The flocks are easy to keep off when they get too big with either my dogs, or the shotgun. The dogs only work sometimes because the birds know the dogs can't catch them in the water, so I will shoot the water right next to them several time and they leave. BUT we have a nesting pair that return each year that we have a love/hate relationship with. The male is very aggressive to any other birds during the spring, and dealing with 2 all the time is better than dealing with 20+, but as soon as the 5-7 goslings come, the mess starts.

But a shotgun is really the best way to deal with them

 

[buck12]

These things have to be the nastiest animal that exist. Our dog used to chase them but now they have the bluff on her. My neighbor installed an 18 inch fence along the pond which works to keep them out of his yard but that makes it difficult for kids to fish. At my rural property I know how I would solve the problem but in town that solution won’t work. I don’t want a fence between the water and yard.

I am interested to see how others have combatted the demons. We have multiple ponds in our neighborhood. There is nothing quite like going for a run at night and coming home with a nice coding of goose poop on your shoes or letting the dog in only to discover she is covered in goose poop or having a fine smelling coating of goose poop on the lawn mower tires.

 

[oosik]

Around here I get two or three mated pair every spring on my lake. They stay until the young are fledged then - whooosh. They only "haul out" on the cliffs on the far side of the lake. So - no mess, no problems.
View attachment 619241View attachment 619242 . Mid day. Evening shadows.


You shoot a Canadian Goose out of season around here - you might as well have shot a Bald Eagle.

 

[Diggin It]

Last couple of years when Spring floods took over nearby fields, we had a few pairs take up residence for a while. Pretty cool to watch. Noisy though. Flocks overhead could be in the hundreds and you can her them for quite a long ways off. Sometimes, it takes a while to focus on the flock among the clouds.

 

[jcummins]

Get a dog. Train him to do what he does best when you say.....git em.

 

[goeduck]

Get some bald eagles. Migratory Canadian geese started showing up around here about 4 years ago, nested and raised their young on the saltwater. Bald eagles prey on the young geese, dive bombing them and carrying them away. Less geese every year since then, almost none this year. I did not mind them since they mostly ate seaweed and NEVER came up off the beach onto my lawn. Nature took its course.

 

[oosik]

The big flocks of geese don't like my little lake. It's only five acres and it's "depressed". Only the couple of nesting pairs really use the little lake. Now the big lake - I've seen literally hundreds on it. Thank goodness they are a little over half mile away. They squawk and honk all night long. I don't know if/when they ever get any rest.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Once again, I find myself on the other side of popular opinion. I think the Canada geese are beautiful animals. (You do know there's a difference in "Canada Geese" and "Canadian Geese", right?)

My 'dislike' criteria with them though is quantity. We have two pair that come here annually to nest. Two pair with a string of little ones trailing behind out on the lake is a beautiful sight, in my opinion. They're always welcome to come for their short stay.

Once their young are old enough to fly, they're gone to land unknown. However - this year we had two other large groups that decided to invade our two lakes. Total was about 3 dozen, +/-, and that was 32 too many. Four geese don't make that much of a mess. Three dozen do. A flock of a hundred simply would not be tolerated. We simply let our little terrier dog out to run them off.

After the third day, they all left. The two original pair will be back next year - they always go back to where they were born to nest every year. And once again, they'll be welcome. At least they're "visitors", not "residents".

Not all Canada geese are migratory though. The nearby national fish hatchery has accumulated a huge flock that hang out all year. Those, I don't think would be afraid of a dog, shotgun, or anything at all. They hang out wherever they happen to feel like. Sometimes they're even in the road, seemingly daring a car to run into them. Those guys have pretty much worn out their welcome, in my opinion.

 

[Gem99ultra]

(deleted - double post for some reason.)

 

[mikester]

Seeing you are a Torontonian you have 3 options:
1. Learn to embrace the wildlife and accept that these animals have been using the lands longer than you have been alive and enjoy the fact that wildlife are willing to land on your property.
2. Refuse to accept option 1 and sell your income property and vow to remain in the GTA. Spend your proceeds on keeping your gas guzzling 4WD SUV filled with gas because, lord knows, it might snow 3x in the GTA this winter and your three season all season tires will spin in the slush racing between stop lights.
3. Embrace your TO heritage and simply pave over your lawns with asphalt. Paint it green. Advertise that your income property has a tennis court.

Here is a good link for non GTA people
https://www.ontario.ca/page/preventing-and-managing-conflicts-birds

Its illegal for you to harass or shoot geese out of season in Ontario. Unless you are a farmer then its ok to protect your property from imminent damage.

 

[buck12]

Once again, I find myself on the other side of popular opinion. I think the Canada geese are beautiful animals. (You do know there's a difference in "Canada Geese" and "Canadian Geese", right?)

My 'dislike' criteria with them though is quantity. We have two pair that come here annually to nest. Two pair with a string of little ones trailing behind out on the lake is a beautiful sight, in my opinion. They're always welcome to come for their short stay.

Once their young are old enough to fly, they're gone to land unknown. However - this year we had two other large groups that decided to invade our two lakes. Total was about 3 dozen, +/-, and that was 32 too many. Four geese don't make that much of a mess. Three dozen do. A flock of a hundred simply would not be tolerated. We simply let our little terrier dog out to run them off.

After the third day, they all left. The two original pair will be back next year - they always go back to where they were born to nest every year. And once again, they'll be welcome. At least they're "visitors", not "residents".

Not all Canada geese are migratory though. The nearby national fish hatchery has accumulated a huge flock that hang out all year. Those, I don't think would be afraid of a dog, shotgun, or anything at all. They hang out wherever they happen to feel like. Sometimes they're even in the road, seemingly daring a car to run into them. Those guys have pretty much worn out their welcome, in my opinion.

The ones we have are not migratory, they stay year round and they are not native. Up until 20 years ago a few would pass through the area in late winter and people enjoyed seeing them. Now they they have decided to stay and create mountains of poo. Every year we have a few wild ducks spend some time on our pond. They are beautiful and we enjoy watching them but geese are a different story.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I've always wanted this problem. I've seen a couple in my pond in the last ten years, but it's very rare and they never left any fertilizer on my pastures. I've heard that golf courses have a lot of problems with them and if it's really bad, I would try to figure out what they do.

You really dont want this problem. We had 2 nesting pairs on our pond when we bought the place 10 years ago. Yesterday I counted 42 grazing around on the grass and crapping on everything. I have had my dog chase them but they just go into the water. I even tried shooting at them from a distance with a shotgun. When the shot hit the water, they just came closer thinking it was food hitting the water. I have to stand guard when I throw out corn for my chickens, guineas and peacock, otherwise the geese come up and eat it all.
I got my hunting license one year and killed about 14 of them and the killing scared some of them off for a while but they eventually came back. I guess it is time to kill off a few again at next hunting season. Otherwise they overrun the place.

 

[the old grind]

So many experiences mentioned here that mirror my own. A nesting pair will drive all others off every year, but once the young have fledged and flown groups stop in at random to make their underwater messes. My problem is rarely them grazing on the lawn, it's recycling seaweed and thereby compounding creeping, unwanted pond fertility. Too many weeds are too easy to reach in 1 ac+ of 4 that's knee-deep. Get one of these and tie/toss it out like a duck decoy. Pull it in and move it every few days.

https://www.amazon.com/SPROTW-Float...t=&hvlocphy=9017065&hvtargid=pla-813059719345



Alligator Head Decoy | Floating Alligator Head | The Pond Guy



I have the Pond Guy gator with the glowing eye. It's not foolproof, but does save a lot of yelling and arm-waving.

 

[Gary Fowler]

The ones we have are not migratory, they stay year round and they are not native. Up until 20 years ago a few would pass through the area in late winter and people enjoyed seeing them. Now they they have decided to stay and create mountains of poo. Every year we have a few wild ducks spend some time on our pond. They are beautiful and we enjoy watching them but geese are a different story.

The ones we have are also non-migratory and stay around all the time. They keep increasing their numbers every year by at least 12. With all the 40-50 geese we have, only two pairs nest here. My neighbor has a large pond also, but never more than 8-10 geese invade his area, they prefer my pond which has acres of grass bordering it on all sides.