Managing Windsor’s population of Canada geese will require militant effort over multiple years to truly make a dent in the number of the birds throughout the city.
That’s according to Dan Frankian of Hawkeye Bird and Animal Control Specialists — a bird control expert with more than 36 years of experience managing animal populations.
“They’re coming after you and you’re going after them, and we know how militant they can be,” Frankian told CBC.
The former Canadian Armed Forces sniper and master falconer has traveled all over the world to help large corporations and government agencies get bird populations under control.
Frankian said dealing with Canada geese needs special diligence.
“I mean, they call them the Canadian Air Force not for unknown reasons. These things are good, all right,” Frankian advised.
The City of Windsor has hired a contractor to remove 150 eggs from seven nesting locations in Windsor. It’s a method that requires a permit from the federal government.
Council approved a $30,000 geese management strategy as part of the city’s annual operating budget earlier this year.
Riverside-area councillor Jo-Anne Gignac pushed for action on the issue after she heard last summer from a constituent complaining about nearly colliding with geese while riding a bike on Ganatchio Trail.
“He swerved to avoid them. He was thrown from his bike and spent four days in the hospital with a broken collar bone and six broken ribs,” Gignac told council in June 2024.
Geese crossing busy roads have led to other collisions in the city, in some cases sending people to hospital with serious injuries.
“These flocks of geese just walking out into the road, people slamming on their brakes, and it’s a mess,” Gignac told council.
But a spokesperson for the federal government said Windsor’s management plan is a good starting point that’s in line with what similar sized cities across Ontario have been doing.
“However, habitat modification and education remain vital to mitigating human-goose conflicts in Windsor,” wrote Samuel Lafontaine, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The federal agency 430 permits regarding Canada geese have been issued across Canada since 2020, and 97 per cent of them include egg management methods.
The Canadian Wildlife Service says Canada geese lay two to eight eggs a year, starting when the adults are around three years old.
The large birds nest in the spring in familiar areas for their entire lives — which can be as long as 25 years.
That means one Canada goose could produce 176 eggs in its lifetime.
According to the Canadian Wildlife Service, late April to early June is when geese are most aggressive — because they’re motivated to protect their recently hatched goslings.
Frankian said oils can be applied to eggs to prevent them from hatching — but that won’t dissuade a Canada goose from nesting at a location again.
He said the city’s contractor should act like a predator to the full extent that the federal permit allows.
“Destroy the nest, destroy the eggs, do it in front of the female,” advised Frankian, who emphasized that the act needs to show the goose that all humans are a threat.
“The basic thing is: Do not let the population grow.”
According to the City of Windsor, its federal permit only authorizes “the removal of nests and eggs during a defined period.”
But Frankian believes outright, obvious destruction of the nest and eggs is necessary for the plan to be truly effective. Otherwise, the goose will persist in nesting again.
“You are trying to tell the goose, get out, don’t come back,” Frankian said.
Windsor resorts to removing geese eggs for population control
This isn’t the first time Windsor has tried to get geese out of popular park areas such as the riverfront trail.
In 2019, city staff placed two-dimensional dog-shaped cutouts on the riverfront to try to scare away geese.
The University of Windsor tried the same, then had a better idea: Employ an actual dog to chase the geese off campus sport areas.
Winston, a St. Bernard-Mastiff mix, is owned by Rick Daly — manager of athletic facilities and services at the university.
Twice daily, Winston runs through the track and football fields of the Toldo Lancer Centre, making life difficult for geese.
“Ultimately it’s just to annoy them so that they’re not nasty,” Daly explained.
Daly consulted with golf course operators to find the right approach to preventing the accumulation of “geese content” — the term Daly uses for goose droppings.
Daly also encourages fellow dog-owning staff members to bring their pets to campus and help out. “We simply just want to gently remove the geese from locating here.”
“The dogs won’t necessarily catch them. They won’t be able to.”
Daly said Winston gets paid for his work with treats and hugs.
Frankian said that a dog can work to deter geese from frequenting a park — but it needs to be consistent.
Chasing geese with dogs is the only method that doesn’t require a federal permit, Frankian added.
The stronger method would be to obtain a permit that allows for physical relocation of geese to other communities.
“Geese molt,” said Frankian. “In other words, these flight feathers entirely disappear. They fall off every year. They’re flightless.”
That time of year is when experienced bird control professionals will slowly corral the geese into manageable groups that can be put into trucks and moved elsewhere.
According to Frankian, the key is to outlast the geese with your efforts: You don’t stop until the geese give up — which will take more than a few years.
“When they give up, you do an extra year, and then you’re done,” Frankian said.
“But if one goose comes back and says ‘I’m going to nest here’ — you better get at it again.”
