Male: And here we are today at Chaparel park and we are literally on a wild goose chase. We’re out here at the beginning of a two year stunning, they’re banding geese, putting on neck collars, they’re putting on leg collars to find out why these geese are staying at this lake. Some of this winter visitors, they never left.
Eric: The numbers of geese have increase very rapidly over the last few years, now we have a few hundred geese, whereas recent as about ten years ago, in a matter of just a couple of dozen geese. There are concerns about these geese because they are staying year round. They’ve discovered that, the Scottsdale is a five start resort. Everything they needed is here, they got food, they got water, and there are no predators. In fact, it’s just resort living here in Scottsdale for these geese. The beginning of this two year study, it starts with capturing these geese to identify them individually and put collars around their neck to identify the individual bird, they also have bands on their legs and then we also determining the, whether it’s an adult, juvenile, male or female.
Male: Well that sounds simple enough, but when working with wildlife, nothing’s ever that easy. Geese fly, people don’t. So exactly how does one catch a bird that can simply fly away, we wait until they molt. Molting is that 8-10 weeks flightless period when Canada geese shed their outer wing feathers and regrow new ones. Here in the desert southwest, molting typically occurs between May through June. Most birds actually remain flightless through July. During this molting period, geese will gather on ponds or lakes since they provide a safe resting place and security from predators. In the wild, geese without young will sometimes travel hundreds of miles to the security of favorite molting areas in the north, unless of course, they decide to stay at a five star resort, like Chaparel lake. The plan here is to erect a small pen, bait the geese in and simply close the gate on them. Again, nothing is ever simple when dealing with wildlife. In this case, guess who came for breakfast, you got it, every pigeon in a five mile radius has heard about the beetles being pass out of the park and they came in for a free sample. Feeding wildlife is never a good idea, it concentrates animals in densities that are seldom seen in nature, exposing them to disease and predation. Also, when animals become dependent on humans, it often causes human wildlife conflicts. But since many of these urban geese used to feeding, we used that technique here for the capture. Eventually the first group of geese made their way to the pen. The days catch marks the start of a two year study to determine movement patterns of these geese during the day, week to week, or even month to month throughout the year. We’re attempting to gain data that will lead to the development of a good urban waterfowl management plan. Eventually the first group of geese made their way into the pen, while these cowboys will never earn their spurs rounding up geese, they did learn that slow and easy is the way to go. And oh yah, keep an eye out for the pigeons making a hasty departure. Once inside, the pen was closed and sections of pens were removed to make the pens smaller. Goslings that tried to follow mom into the pen were removed to safety.
Eric: It’ll begun trusting to watch these geese also in the winter time when the migrating geese come in and start to intermingle and see what happens in terms of an interaction what this now domesticated geese and the wild populations that come in.
Male: So what’s the problem with the wild and urban geese interacting?
Eric: Well, that’s okay to interact a little bit, but there’s a problem sometimes, like there might be some disease exposure between the two populations.
Male: The next group wasn’t as golden, like their wild country cousins have been doing for generations, these city slickers high tailed it to the safety of the island. Enter the kayaks, sneaking up from the opposite sides of the island, the remaining geese were herded off of the island and into the hands of waiting wranglers. Once the last of the geese were in the pens, the biologists got to do what biologists love to do, in this case a goose would be removed from the pen, taken over to the waiting biologists and processing began. The first step in the process is to determine the age and sex of the goose. Once that is completed, a leg band is secured and neck band identification attached. The neck bands are attached loose enough that they don’t constrict movement and growth, but tight enough that they won't slip off the bird. Those high contrast necklaces will allow observers to determine individual birds from a distance away, which will certainly help once the flight feathers grow back. Local residents are concerned about what was happening to their geese and relieve to find that their birds are being released after the information was gathered.
Mari: Contessa says what’s going on, we love our geese, it’s so good to see you out here, you know, it’s just exciting for them to, I think to see something going on and certainly having game and fish involved adds a lot of credibility to the project. So, we have the opportunity to talk to them about how we’re trying to be very good stewards in our park environment and show how we’re trying to take care of the park for them as well as for the wildlife. And we’re hoping that by monitoring, tracking the activities, behavior, locations of the geese over the next two years, the game and fish will be able to lead us into a good urban water fowl management program, so that we can balance the needs of our wildlife population with our urban human population, and work together to create the optimal urban park experience for both wildlife and people.
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