by Scot Evans

In the early 1900s, only a handful of Canada Geese nested in the wild in New York State. These geese were descendants of captive birds released by private individuals in the lower Hudson Valley and on Long Island. Local flocks grew rapidly and spread to other areas. During the 1950s and 1960s, game farm geese were released by the New York State Conservation Department on wildlife management areas in upstate New York (north and west of Albany).

‘Migratory Canada Geese’ remain in their migratory wedges when flying north or south. Geese that live and nest locally are ‘Resident Geese’ due to the human-made problems from the 1990s described above. Fecal e-coli saturation from over-population is a significant health concern; each goose or gander drops one pound of fecal matter per day.

Every year, from the end of March through the middle of May, volunteers from around the lake visit all three islands to monitor our gaggle of resident geese and prevent any eggs they lay there from developing and hatching.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issues permits to organizations to enlist their help in controlling the resident geese population. This is achieved by hunting, culling, harassment of geese, egg oiling and egg addling. Our associations employ the latter three methods only. 

The Lake’s Goose Patrol Chairman obtains the USFWS permit prior to each Spring’s nesting and six-week egg-laying and incubation period. The volunteer agents (in alphabetical order) are Ciorsdan Conran, Robert Cummings (Chairman), Scot Evans, Deanna Novak, Clare Panno, Lee Rasamny, Jill Wishner. 

Oiling the eggs with pure corn oil prevents oxygen from passing through the shell and therefore prevents its further development. Addling the egg is a further insurance to break-up the yoke within the shell to also prevent its development. The treated egg is placed back in the nest so the goose does not lay more eggs and continues to incubate the treated eggs for four weeks. The nest is simply abandoned by the geese when no eggs hatch and those eggs are then collected by the volunteers and composted so they don’t remain on the islands to burst open in the summer heat.

This year, for example, 12 goose nests were built and a total of 57 eggs were laid and treated between the end of March and the middle of May. None of the eggs developed and no goslings were spotted during the geese molting months of June and July.

Our weekly reports and annual updates can be found at https://truesdalelake.com/tag/geese/.

Resident vs Migratory Canada Geese and the Resident Geese control problems are described at https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/geeseproblem.pdf