Controlling Canada geese population on LI under way

Towns around Long Island are coming up with goose eggs - and officials say that's a good thing.

Efforts to control the Canada geese population will reach a pinnacle in the coming weeks, as workers scramble to treat eggs with corn oil before goslings hatch and also scare away adult geese before they molt and stay put on the Island until the fall.

Many towns have had geese control programs in place for several years, and their work may finally be showing progress, officials said. Bryan Swift, waterfowl specialist for the state DEC, said estimates from about five years ago had Long Island as home to as many as 25,000 Canada geese. Population control efforts over the last five years now put that estimate at 15,000 to 20,000. Still, he said, that number is four to five times higher than what it should be here.

"Most people enjoy some geese but it's pretty clear that it's an overabundance situation here," Swift said.

One of the reasons the local geese population got so high, said David Feld of GeesePeace, a national nonprofit, is the number of geese who can't migrate because their ancestors had their wings clipped has soared. "They're not here because they're lazy," Feld said. "They're here because they've become biologically trapped."

According to GeesePeace, which works with communities to find humane solutions to geese problems, five nesting pairs of geese will lead to 270 geese in eight years and those 270 geese will become 1,280 geese four years later. A goose will produce at least a pound of droppings each day, Swift said. As a result, playing fields and parks have become coated in droppings, which can contribute to high bacteria levels in water and cause the closing of beaches and lakes.

"The biggest problem with geese is their fecal deposits," Swift said. "If they didn't leave droppings everywhere, they wouldn't be so unpopular."

Canada geese also come in contact with planes, most notably causing the engine failure on the US Airways plane that landed safely in the Hudson River in 2009. According to the FAA, there have been 112 incidents in New York involving aircraft and Canada geese since 1990.

Babylon Town coats eggs with corn oil to stop the embryo's development and uses dogs to chase adult geese away.

The oiling is done at an early stage of development, before the embryo develops breathing abilities, said Rich Groh, Babylon's chief environmental analyst. Eggs that are more developed are left to hatch.

"It's difficult to be here at exactly the right time," Groh said. Oiling is typically done from March to early May, he said. According to GeesePeace, egg oiling is considered the most humane method of stabilizing the Canada geese population and it is supported by PETA and the Humane Society.

Timing is also crucial when using dogs. If geese aren't chased away by the beginning of summer, they molt and lose their wing feathers, making them unable to fly until the fall.

Oyster Bay, which GeesePeace said has one of the largest geese control programs in the country, monitors 102 sites, with dogs, seven days a week during this peak time,

Many say they have seen geese populations drop in the past few years.

At Tanner Park in Copiague last week, Cynthia Morgan, 50, of Amity Harbor, said she first became aware of the change while cleaning her son's cleats, which used to be filled with bird droppings and now only hold mud.

Joe Miller, 46, of Copiague, used to coach baseball at the park and now watches his son Luke play there.

"It used to be a horror out on the field," he said. "The droppings were like land mines. Now it's much better."