Don Lyman
The Boston Globe, May 18, 2023
Canada geese stroll through traffic earlier this month t Nubian Square in Roxbury.
DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
“Anywhere there’s water you can see them. They’ve really taken to the suburbs and populous areas. It’s amazing.”
From the suburbs to the city, it seems Canada geese are everywhere. While driving around Spot Pond in Stoneham, I often have to wait in a line of traffic as geese cross the road, especially after the goslings hatch in May, and parents lead their broods across busy streets.
And when I commute into the city to teach college, I also see Canada geese along Memorial Drive in Cambridge and in the Fens and the Muddy River in Boston.
“They’re very adaptable birds, like wild turkeys,” said Wayne Petersen, Mass Audubon’s director of Important Bird Areas. “Anywhere there’s water you can see them. They’ve really taken to the suburbs and populous areas. It’s amazing.”
But there’s more to the story of how Canada geese have become so abundant in Greater Boston.
In the early 1900s, captive Canada geese had their flight feathers removed and were used by hunters as live decoys to attract migratory geese that were passing through Massachusetts, Petersen said. But in the 1930s, using live geese as decoys was outlawed.
“When live decoys became illegal, we had a feral population of geese that were local and lost their migratory instincts,” said Petersen. “They started breeding on their own around ponds, lakes, etc.”
Petersen said geese feed on grass and other plants on athletic fields, median strips, golf courses, near reservoirs, and even in the Boston Public Garden.
“We created a landscape that was suitable for them,” said Petersen. “They found habitat to their liking — foraging areas and water. Canada geese nest effectively and have large broods. This has happened all over the Northeast. There’s lots of geese, so they move into cities and suburbs.”
Canada geese are big, distinctive-looking birds, with large brown bodies, black necks and heads, and white cheek patches. Weighing 10 to 14 pounds, they are the second-largest waterfowl in North America, after swans, according to MassWildlife.
Canada geese and their goslings on Reed Pond in Rockland. MATTHEW J LEE/GLOBE STAFF
Canada geese are the only species of goose that breeds in Massachusetts, according to Mass Audubon. Breeding begins in early April, and nests are usually built on elevated sites such as muskrat houses and islets. The female lays one egg per day, with a total of five or six large white eggs typically. Most goslings hatch in May.
The young are precocial, which means they can walk, swim, and feed themselves almost immediately after hatching. Goslings remain with their parents through the first year after hatching.
Interestingly, the adult geese molt during the brood-rearing period and become flightless, said Mass Audubon. They regain the ability to fly around the same time the young have grown full plumage in late July.
Geese mate for life, but if one goose dies, the other looks for a new mate in the next breeding season.
MassWildlife has recorded Canada geese living up to 22 years in the wild, but said 60 percent live four years or less, with just 10 percent living beyond eight years. Canada geese in urban areas tend to live twice as long as those in more rural areas. That’s likely because hunting isn’t allowed in urban areas, said Petersen.
Canada geese face other causes of mortality. Raccoons may prey on goose eggs, said Petersen, and animals like mink and snapping turtles could eat goslings. Adult geese are relatively large and aggressive, so they’re less likely to fall victim to predators, although bigger predators like coyotes, and possibly bald eagles, could prey on them.
The biggest threat to Canada geese in urban and suburban areas is the risk of getting hit by motor vehicles when crossing the road or feeding along streets and median strips, said Petersen.
Canada geese produce up to a pound and a half of droppings every day, which can create a mess on golf courses, lawns, beaches, and streets, MassWildlife said. The issue of large amounts of goose droppings has been a particular problem in Boston parks in recent years, where goose feces on sidewalks, recreational fields, and pathways have impacted visitors’ ability to utilize these public areas, according to a public report issued in 2020.
Recommendations for dealing with the problem included educating people not to feed geese; constructing fencing to keep geese out; utilizing bright lights and dogs to keep geese away; and interfering with egg development, called addling. It involves various techniques to terminate embryo development, such as puncturing, shaking, or oiling eggs, then putting them back in the nest.
“We have issued egg addling permits to a group called the Muddy Water Initiative, which has raised funds to hire a Canada goose egg addler in addition to that being done by Boston Parks and Recreation under the permit they were issued,” said H Heusmann, Waterfowl Project leader at MassWildlife.
“This is only the second year of a concerted effort by the Muddy Water Initiative to addle eggs, and it typically takes about six years of egg addling to achieve notable results in reducing the size of a goose population. That being said, we have heard anecdotally from guides on the duck boat tours that they were not seeing as many goslings when cruising the Charles River.”
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