Getting rid of Canada Geese from marinas

[Delta9]

I can't spot any and can't remember anything which might have been against the forum rules.

Rampant Goosism.

[tree monkey]

Yes, I fully appreciate what you say, and of course as an arboreal professional you see things in a more informed way than the general public.

Thing is you can never just look at a single species outside the context of its overall environment

My favourite example of this is the reintroduction of wolves into yellowstone park, initially to help control the numbers of deer, in the end it massively increased bird numbers and species, helped to stabilise the river banks and reduce sediment flow in the rivers.

Its easy to look at the cute/beautiful animal and not see the negative effects

[Athy]

Rampant Goosism.

I didn't see any first time through, but I'll have another gander.

[Jerra]

Thing is you can never just look at a single species outside the context of its overall environment

My favourite example of this is the reintroduction of wolves into yellowstone park, initially to help control the numbers of deer, in the end it massively increased bird numbers and species, helped to stabilise the river banks and reduce sediment flow in the rivers.

Its easy to look at the cute/beautiful animal and not see the negative effects

The knock on effect has been quite startling right down to Butterflies and other insects. Back to what I have implied earlier each species has evolved into its own special place in the web of life.

[tree monkey]

The knock on effect has been quite startling right down to Butterflies and other insects. Back to what I have implied earlier each species has evolved into its own special place in the web of life.

Yes but at the same time each, to a greater or lesser degree, depends on each other

I love this stuff

[ditchcrawler]

Providing you can be sure they are fresh it would work well although perhaps not as well as "pricking" the eggs and leaving them in the nest.

 

They would start a new clutch sooner if the eggs disappear where as they will continue to sit on pricked or blown eggs and may not have time for a second clutch when they finally give up.

They actually "Oil" the egg rather than pricking

[tree monkey]

They actually "Oil" the egg rather than pricking

Didnt know that, off to google

[ditchcrawler]

I have decided to reopen the topic after so more pruning. Lots of interesting discussion here but I will lock it again if I consider it necessary.

 

Theo

I do feel that if the Mods do this they should give some guidance where we all went adrift so we try not to stray there again. It wasn't till I got to here after posting a reply that I realised there had been a problem, but I don't have a clue what.

Didnt know that, off to google

http://www.pigeoncontrolresourcecentre.org/html/reviews/egg-oiling-liquid-paraffin-bp.html

[cobaltcodd]

I read somewhere that had a seagull (or was it pigeon) problem cured it by feeding the beasties bird food laced with a contraceptive, so they naturally died out and no more replaced them. Seems quite a humane way of doing things

[tree monkey]

I read somewhere that had a seagull (or was it pigeon) problem cured it by feeding the beasties bird food laced with a contraceptive, so they naturally died out and no more replaced them. Seems quite a humane way of doing things

Thats not an uncommon approach

[gazza]

I do feel that if the Mods do this they should give some guidance where we all went adrift so we try not to stray there again. It wasn't till I got to here after posting a reply that I realised there had been a problem, but I don't have a clue what.

 

http://www.pigeoncontrolresourcecentre.org/html/reviews/egg-oiling-liquid-paraffin-bp.html

They are not keen on Flambé Goose by the look of it, some light-hearted banter between Loddon, MTB and myself (all grown ups as far as I can tell) that didn't breach forum rules has been Vaped.

Didn't get a courtesy message explaining what the indiscretions were either.

[W+T]

I thought my suggestion to eat the eggs was sensible...Mr Google has lots of recipes if you don't like fried eggs

 

 

OMG i hope you got a warning about this, as i did saying about folk eating the whole birds. called a xeno for god sake. just a si mentioned a certain foreign folk.

 

not getting at you as others have mentioned killing and eating them, and the post are still on here with no warning i bet.

 

picky bloody mods.

 

this place gets worse.

[gazza]

 

 

OMG i hope you got a warning about this, as i did saying about folk eating the whole birds. called a xeno for god sake. just a si mentioned a certain foreign folk.

 

not getting at you as others have mentioned killing and eating them, and the post are still on here with no warning i bet.

 

picky bloody mods.

 

this place gets worse.

I hadn't spotted your post had been culled too

[W+T]

I hadn't spotted your post had been culled too

 

 

lol

[smileypete]

Our marina is over run with Canada Geese. Many people on the marina have issues with them crapping everywhere, the noise they make, and the disruption they are causing to the other wildlife.

 

Rather than the option of culling them people have tried making life difficult for them by regularly shooing them into the water when they see them in the hope that they will move get brassed off and move to one of the many lakes in the vicinity. One chap even operates a remote controlled speedboat in an effort to disturb them. But they are still here.

 

Presumably many marinas have similar problems and I'd be interested to know how others have dealt with the problem, or don't they perceive them as being a problem perhaps?

They are noisiest this time of year as they battle for nesting sites. Chasing doesn't always work as they end up avoiding YOU, but not the marina!

 

A rope or wire or low fence around the pontoon should help stop them hopping in and out. Possibly they have been allowed to nest in the past, being very territorial will try to continue nesting in the same spot.

 

I used to have a wire from bow to stern with another attached halfway which led inside, if they started machine gunning on the hull as they do, they soon learnt the error of their ways!

Edited March 24, 2016 by smileypete

[GUMPY]

I do feel that if the Mods do this they should give some guidance where we all went adrift so we try not to stray there again. It wasn't till I got to here after posting a reply that I realised there had been a problem, but I don't have a clue what.

 

Their problem with me was I posted a recipe for Goose that uses diesel and polystyrene.

I read somewhere that had a seagull (or was it pigeon) problem cured it by feeding the beasties bird food laced with a contraceptive, so they naturally died out and no more replaced them. Seems quite a humane way of doing things

We used to feed segulls Calcium Carbide pellets quite quick and not humane

 

ETA another trick is to spread bread liberally with chilli or colemans mustard or both, throw it in the air for the seagull. Very quickly the seagull decideds he needs a drink so dives into the sea usually from a height.

 

I wont mention feeding Seagulls pork pies

Edited March 24, 2016 by Loddon

[OldGoat]

comfortably numb, on 23 Mar 2016 - 7:17 PM, said:

Many thanks to chesire rose, Ssscruddy, and Jerra for your helpful advice. I suppose getting only 3 sensible answers out of 50 replies is par for the course for this forum. It's reminded my of why I rarely visit here any more

They are a complete pain on T'Thames.

We have an island mooring and the wretched birds poo indiscriminately (well they can't control it) and it's nasty. The problem is naturally they come from the-uttermost-ends-of the-world where Canuks live and have developed a neat strategy to survive-

Once the eggs have hatched 'nursery minders' are appointed, so that a couple of adults look after 50 on more juveniles with the result that the flocks increase at an alarming rate.

As soon as they can fly you get a swarm of 100 plus birds who can easily decimate a field of crops.

A good way of trying to control their expansion is to seal the eggs so that the embryo cannot grow. The parents will sit on these eggs until well beyond the time that they should of hatched, but too late to produce another clutch.

Repeat the process annually until either the flocks (clever birds) work out that your location is not good for a family and they'll try pastures new.

 

They're a pest because they are so successful.

 

Swans are not a problem as the family units are small (Cob, Penn and (say) up to 6chicks. Being territorial their numbers are self controlling.

The Canadians OTOH move in huge flocks from place to place - so there's little natural control...

 

 

There you are, there's some sensible information to redress the balance.

 

Come on the Thames in June and see a lot of folks in unsuitable boats and silly dress doing their annual piss up procession to count Her Maj's collection of graceful swans (they don't like it upp-em...)

[ditchcrawler]

Their problem with me was I posted a recipe for Goose that uses diesel and polystyrene.

We used to feed segulls Calcium Carbide pellets quite quick and not humane

 

ETA another trick is to spread bread liberally with chilli or colemans mustard or both, throw it in the air for the seagull. Very quickly the seagull decideds he needs a drink so dives into the sea usually from a height.

 

I wont mention feeding Seagulls pork pies

Reminds me of my younger days.

[Texasboater]

Thing is you can never just look at a single species outside the context of its overall environment

My favourite example of this is the reintroduction of wolves into yellowstone park, initially to help control the numbers of deer, in the end it massively increased bird numbers and species, helped to stabilise the river banks and reduce sediment flow in the rivers.

Its easy to look at the cute/beautiful animal and not see the negative effects

The Ranchers just outside the Park boundaries would not agree. The proliferation of wolves has cost them a fortune in lost stock.

[The Toad in the Hole]

The Ranchers just outside the Park boundaries would not agree. The proliferation of wolves has cost them a fortune in lost stock.

No, not a fortune. Thee have been some losses, but well within acceptable limits (compared to other sources of attrition, such as disease, neglect etc). There is a tendency to blame any stock loss on predation as it can often be used either directly for compensation or to strengthen an argument for predator control, whereas often it's just poor husbandry. This is true in pretty much any country where there has been reintroduction or enhanced protection of predators

[Klanky]

Immigrants are often frostily received when first they reach our shores, until the public eventually tolerate and then accept them.

Take the case of the grey squirrel. A generation ago, people were throwing up their arms in horror because these nasty foreign squirrels were taking over the habitats of the true-blue red squirrel. Now, most of us just enjoy seeing them and accept that they are part of the country scene.

 

I enjoy seeing them.

 

I also believe their numbers should be controlled because of their ability to spread rapidly, driving out of Tufty, egg-robbing of native species birds and damage to the woodland habitat by bark stripping.

 

Like it or not, we have a duty of care for the natural environment around us. And that involves species management. And management can mean culling in one form or another. Just because something 'looks nice' doesn't wash. At the end of the day, it is humans that are responsible for most non-native species being in the UK - so it is our responsibility to try and maintain the balance.

 

Canadas will literally drive out native species by force of numbers - including swans.

 

Signal crayfish are another example of an invasive species that taste (although maybe not look) nice, but.........

 

Another example: speak to the guys who maintain the rivers about Japanese Knotweed.

 

 

 

(Edit): Apologies, I've just realised Tree Monkey has already covered Greys.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Klanky

[tree monkey]

The Ranchers just outside the Park boundaries would not agree. The proliferation of wolves has cost them a fortune in lost stock.

I can understand that but possibly a reduced deer population will ease pressure on the grazing the ranchers stock require.

[Athy]

 

 

 

 

 

Canadas will literally drive out native species by force of numbers - including swans.

 

 

Promise?

[ditchcrawler]

Promise?

I have seen Canada's drive away a pair of Swans on the Gt Ouse

[Athy]

I have seen Canada's drive away a pair of Swans on the Gt Ouse

Oh, splendid! Bring in more of them.