Canada Geese are prevalent on the northwest edge of Galesburg, with the large birds roosting at Lake Storey, Lincoln Park, and Bunker Links Golf Course.
The subspecies that nest here from May to September are Giant Canada Geese – but they rarely leave once they find a home.
“The geese we see here in the summer have changed their habits and no longer migrate for the most part, until all the water freezes,” said Scott Beckerman, state director for the United States Department of Agriculture’s wildlife services program. “Then they temporarily go south, just far enough to find open water.”
Beckerman deals with conflicts that arise when wildlife are overabundant.
He told the city council during a recent work session the geese population statewide has been stable for the last 20 years or so, but it has increased in some places, like Galesburg, where the geese are causing some problems.
“Most of them involve droppings,” Beckerman said. “And sometimes the geese can become aggressive in the spring when they’re trying to protect their nests.”
Beckerman said he tries to educate communities about what attracts geese to certain areas, and people feeding the geese is one of the big problems.
“Feeding artificially concentrates them,” he said. “The food sources can alter their diet to the point where they develop deformities.”
Beckerman outlined some options for the city to deter the geese, some of which the city is already doing.
But he said one of the first steps municipalities typically take to control geese populations is treating eggs in nests so they don’t hatch.
Free permits are available from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to treat the eggs.
In 2015, the city council voted down a proposal that would allow city staffers to hunt the geese,
Beckerman said hunting remains one of the more effective ways to control geese populations, but that is more complicated in urban environments.
But he said encouraging hunting of geese outside the city limits would also help control the population.
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