Canada Goose

What Canada geese look like

The Canada goose is a large waterfowl, with the biggest birds reaching about 122 cm in length and a wingspan well over a metre. The head, neck, bill, legs and eyes are black, and a broad white chinstrap runs up each cheek. The breast is light tan to pale grey, the back and wings are brown, and there is a white band at the base of the tail. Males and females look the same, although males are usually larger. Goslings are yellow and grey, and they follow the adults in a line. Flocks fly in the familiar V formation and call with a loud two note honk. On the ground, geese graze grass steadily and hold their necks high when disturbed.

Signs you have geese

• Droppings on turf and paths. Dark green tubular droppings scattered across lawns, walkways, sports fields and parking areas.
• Grazed grass. Short, torn, uneven turf with pulled plugs where a flock has fed over several days.
• Nests near water. A mound of grass and down on an island, shoreline, berm, planter or stormwater pond edge in spring.
• Families on foot. Adults walking goslings across lawns and roadways from late spring onward, before the young can fly.
• Defensive behaviour. Hissing, head lowering and charging at people who pass near a nest or a brood.
• Daily routine. The same flock arriving and departing at set times, using the same stretch of lawn and water.

Geese return to sites that worked for them, and a successful nesting season brings them back.

Why geese show up around Ottawa and Toronto properties

Canada geese want open, closely mown grass beside open water with clear sightlines, because it lets them graze while watching for danger. Modern development supplies that in quantity. Corporate campuses, stormwater management ponds, golf courses, school fields, parks, condominium lawns and waterfront promenades across Ottawa, the GTA and Hamilton are close to ideal. Mown lawns produce the young grass shoots they prefer, and the absence of ground predators in built up areas makes nesting safer than in the wild. Some geese migrate, but many now stay in southern and eastern Ontario year round where open water and food persist. Feeding by the public makes it worse, because fed birds lose their wariness and settle permanently.

Are geese dangerous?

Geese are not predators and they do not carry off anything, but they are large, strong and very protective. During nesting and while raising goslings, an adult will hiss, charge and strike with the wings, which can knock over a child or an older adult. That is the main personal safety concern, and it is worth taking seriously around schools, parks and building entrances. The larger day to day issue is volume. A grazing goose produces a great deal of droppings, which foul lawns, walkways, patios, playing fields and beaches, create a slipping hazard and contribute to water quality problems in ponds. Grazing also damages turf and new plantings. Geese are native migratory birds and are protected in Canada, so management focuses on making a site unattractive rather than on removal.

How to keep geese away

• Stop all feeding and post signs, since fed geese stay and bring others.
• Let grass grow longer near water and plant tall native vegetation along shorelines and pond edges to block sightlines and access.
• Install low fencing, wire or hedging between water and lawn so birds cannot simply walk up onto the grass.
• Reduce large expanses of short mown turf near water, or break them up with planting beds, shrubs and berms.
• Begin deterrence early in spring, before pairs settle, because established nesting birds are far harder to move.
• Vary any deterrent used, since geese quickly learn to ignore anything that stays in the same place and never changes.

Changing the landscape is what works. Scaring birds off the same lawn every morning is not a plan.

How GO! Pest Control handles geese

• Inspection. We assess the property for what is attracting the flock, including turf layout, water access, sightlines, nesting locations and feeding pressure.
• Deterrents. We recommend and apply humane deterrence suited to the site, such as exclusion fencing and wire near water, habitat changes and hazing methods used before birds settle.
• Removal. We clear droppings and debris from affected areas, and any work involving the nests or eggs of this protected species is carried out within the applicable federal and provincial rules, with permits where these are required.
• Follow-up. We reassess through the season, because pressure changes between nesting, brood rearing and the summer moult when adults cannot fly.
• Advice. We give property managers a plain plan covering landscaping, signage and timing so the site is less attractive next year.

We are licensed, insured and bonded, and we work in homes, apartments, condos and businesses across the Toronto GTA, Ottawa and Hamilton.

Common questions about Canada geese