Urban Canada Geese in Georgia: Assessing a Golf Course Survey and a Nuisance Relocation Program

Nuisance complaints about Canada geese (Branta canadensis), have risen in recent years. In Georgia, managers have responded by relocating some nuisance geese to rural areas. During 1993–1996, we used band recoveries of relocated geese to determine the efficacy of relocation as a management strategy. We also used data from a post-card survey of golf courses to monitor the urban subpopulation of Canada geese in Georgia during 1998–2001. Flocks considered by golf course superintendents to be a nuisance were larger (1998: 48.8 geese, 1999: 71.5, 2000: 73.2, 2001: 67.2) than nonnuisance flocks (1998: 13.1 geese, 1999: 16.7, 2000: 25.8, 2001: 18.1). In addition, golf courses within 0–40 km of large reservoirs in Georgia were more prone to have geese present during 1998 and 1999. These flocks were larger than flocks at greater distances from reservoirs, and were more likely to be a nuisance. Golf course managers used a variety of techniques in an attempt to reduce the carrying capacity of their golf courses. Relocation of geese appears to be a successful strategy for removing geese from the urban subpopulation to the hunted, non-urban subpopulation, as the average release and recovery locations were 134.8 km and 122.4 km, respectively, from the capture locatio