Recent Articles from BRMC Newsletters

Virginia's "Canada" Geese

In looking through "Virginia Migratory Waterfowl 2005-2006 Seasons and Bag Limits", I was surprised by some of the "bag" limits. This booklet is published yearly by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and can be obtained free of charge at many locations, including the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart.

With so many species of waterfowl declining, I was glad to see reduced bag limits and hunting season lengths for several species. The bag limit for Canada geese has been increased, which is good, but it is still too low. I would like to see the Canada goose season start well before the real Canada geese arrive from the northern regions and last until well after they return to their nesting grounds.

The increasing number of feral Canada geese is due to several factors. Many Canada geese were kept in ornamental waterfowl collections at one time. If the young produced were not pinioned or otherwise confined, they could fly off to reproduce nearby. This is what happened after the mute swan was introduced from Europe. Also, Canada geese that were injured or crippled in hunting attempts and could not return to Canada, but were still able to breed in their new surroundings. Some game wardens would even bring injured geese to farmers to release in their ponds. The problem now with our resident geese is that the young never left with their parents to migrate anywhere. The parents were not able to head north, so their offspring didn't either. We now have thousands of geese, and each pair lays four to seven eggs per year. A pair of Canada geese can live for as long as 33 years, creating two to three more breeding pairs each year. How many years will it take before we have one million "Canada" geese in Virginia? You don't have to be good at math to know that it won't be much longer.

Right now they have become a nuisance around buildings, shopping centers, golf courses, and other locations, but somewhere down the road, they could pose a serious health problem to humans as well.