Lasalle to try to control geese
Lasalle borough has plans to try to deter its growing population of Canada geese using dogs and possibly remote-controlled cars (I suppose toy cars? Not full size? Article doesn’t say). Apparently any open space facing the river is popular with these birds, but then people don’t want a screen of trees blocking the river view either.
steph 10:03 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
IIRC there are “no dogs allowed” signs by the river in LaSalle all around the bird sanctuary. Is the need to protect people from stepping in bird poo now more important than protecting the birds? ridiculous.
dwgs 11:05 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
steph, Canada geese need to be protected about as much as seagulls need to be protected. If they are left alone there will be very few other species of bird in your sanctuary. The cobra chicken is the asshole bully of the bird world.
Also, on first reading I thought that said “dogs and possibly remote-controlled CATS”, now that would be fun.
Kate 11:11 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Most cats would have the sense to steer clear of those critters – but maybe not if they were remote controlled!
js 11:39 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
In a few weeks nature & wildlife lovers as well as those who get a kick out of cute baby animals will have the opportunity to spot the goslings taking their first steps along the shore if Lasalle hasn’t scared them off already.
MarcG 12:07 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
But don’t get too close or their parents will start doing the scary snaky-neck dance in your general direction.
Jim 12:09 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
They are perfectly edible…
js 13:46 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
MarcG: Despite (or because of?) her popularity as a raconteuse for children Mother Goose has the reputation as a fierce protector of her young indeed.. Luckily when I spotted them along the shore in Lasalle one time in early May a few years ago they were right beside the bike path and didn’t seem bothered by my gawking. They grow up fast though, so the interested and curious should try to dig the scene early, lest they arrive after the goslings have molted their baby feathers and look like smaller versions of their mom.
MarcG 13:54 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
I guess you’re right that it wasn’t so much that I was too close to them, it’s that their kids wanted to eat the grass where I was standing and was told to move (communicated via said snaky-neck dance). Dogs make em scatter quick, though. And I kind of like the awkward, disheveled teenager look they get.
su 14:33 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
The population of geese in that area is growing, due to habitat loss in other areas. Where exactly are they supposed to go? I wonder.
Kate 15:43 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Jim, are they really edible?
I can’t help wondering whether our surplus of deer and geese would be seen as an opportunity in some places, rather than a problem. But admittedly we can’t have random people popping off shotguns in public parks.
Bill Binns 17:14 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Wasn’t it a goose that the freshly reformed Mr Scrooge told Tiny Tim to buy with the gold sovereign he tossed out the window? It’s my only source for edible geese.
John B 18:57 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Canada Geese are absolutely edible, and apparently delicious too.
The goose that Scrooge bought would have been a “normal” goose, (the white ones).
Snow Geese, (also white, but I think different from normal geese), are also sought-after by hunters, and there’s usually a big hunt when they migrate south in the fall.
Kate 19:52 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Bill Binns, I always think of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892) in which a goose figures in the plot. John B, the geese in this story are described as white with black markings.
Kevin 14:05 on 2021-04-09 Permalink
Half a million Canada geese are bagged each year.
And yeah, geese are tasty like super turkey.
EmilyG 22:23 on 2021-04-09 Permalink
Resilience Montreal would like some geese.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNaQL74nM8l/