THE WILD VIEW
Transient Geese Staying Put
W
hat a winter! It seems for many of us in Ontario, it was one of little snow and only a week or two of cold temperatures. As I write this, it is February and 10°C outside. And yes, I am in Ontario, Canada. This diversity of weather in our regions is very unique, with late but heavy snows in some regions, and virtually no snow and average temperatures above 0°C in others. The fall had us counting exceptionally larger numbers of Canada geese in southern Ontario. Up to ten times the seasonal average on some sites. This was very consistent along the shorelines of Lake Ontario, where we usually see a short ‘burst’ of large numbers of transient geese in the fall that taper off as December approaches. Not this year. It seems southern Ontario is no longer a stop over but a destination. With the increasing number of geese staying put over winter what does this do to our work load in the spring? One goose will consume about 4 lbs of turf a day, and give back 2 lbs in droppings. Let’s see, if there are 800 wintering geese on your No. 3 fairway, that’s 3200 lbs of grass seed to replant
and 1600 lbs of droppings to deal with. And that’s per day! As we monitor these increasing populations, one might wonder how many of these geese will stick around on our turf managed sites throughout spring and summer? Already we are seeing pairing of couples, which means we will see early nesting and goslings sooner rather than later. Geese also attract natural predation, such as the increasing coyote and wolf populations in uban areas. They too respond to an abundance of food and habitat in areas where it is available as well. That’s the dynamic environment which mother nature surrounds us with. ■ Michael von Kaitz, C.Q.C.S. / C.G.M.P. Owner / National Consultant The Wildlife Management Group Inc., Burlington, ON Phone: 1-888-557-5855 www.wildlifeteam.ca
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Winter 2012 • Green is Beautiful 29