4
Previous Research Despite their ubiquitous presence, professional research regarding Canada geese which pertains specifically to Long Island is scarce. Most studies that have taken place in New York either focus on areas located in upstate New York, or utilize the entire state of New York as the research site. Much of what has been documented about Canada geese on Long Island is encompassed in population surveys from citizen science projects and activities done as part of management strategies. In June of 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Wildlife Services worked with multiple agencies to place neck collars on 300 Canada geese (Seamans, Scott, Allen, & Gosser, 2009). The geese were collared at sites which were within approximately 5.6 miles of John F. Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airports (Figure 1) (Seamans et al., 2009). Their intention was to examine the traveling range of Canada geese near airports (Seamans et al., 2009).
Collared geese were observed in the area for two years and analysis of their work led the researchers to discover that almost half of the geese that were collared subsisted in a territory that was no larger than 5 miles (Seamans et al., 2009). They concluded that their collective findings indicated an approximate three mile territory range for geese on western Long Island (Seamans et al., 2009).
Figure 1. The locations where the neck collars were placed on the geese, from “Observations of neck-collared Canada geese near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York” (Seamans et al., 2009) (Reprinted with permission)
According to Laura Francoeur, Chief Wildlife Biologist for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the normal wildlife control operations for John F. Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport include six surveys per month of Canada geese on and off airport property. She explained that surveys done outside of airport property are done by the USDA, while survey efforts on airport property are handled by the Port Authority. She added that the purpose of the surveys is to monitor geese population size around the airport to gauge the effectiveness of current management strategies and to plan for strategy adjustments.
