Canada geese were almost eradicated by hunting, egg gathering and the draining of wetlands in the early 1900s. However, since the 1960s they have made a huge comeback. Their preference for short, highly fertilized grass and ponds of golf courses and parks attract geese to these environments. Once they arrive on these pampered lawns, their numbers will quickly swell to a huge problem.
Canada geese are creatures whose lives are dominated by learned traditions and instinctive annual patterns of behavior. In migratory populations, goslings learn their migration and stopping points by flying the route with their parents. This means that the odds are great that the same geese will return year after year to your property. It is instinct to go back to where they hatched; nested; brooded young, or where they have successfully molted their feathers in past years. Such geese become more difficult to remove and keep away because you must break them of old traditions and help them establish new ones.
The difference between resident geese and migratory geese is that resident geese have chosen to live here year-round. The migratory geese pass through central North America during the fall and spring. Resident geese are not fazed by humans and can be aggressive. During nesting season a belligerent goose can easily knock down a small child.
