THE STREAMER NEWSLETTER

Streamer: Summer 2000

CRWA's office is situated at the upper end of the Charles River Lakes District in Newton. Our location allows us to note the wide variety of birds that live in and along the river. As the seasons change, bird populations using the river change as well. One species, however, is easily seen on any day of the year. Canada Geese are now permanent residents along the river and in many other areas of Massachusetts.

A large concentration of these birds flock around a large riverbank parking area owned by the Metropolitan District Commission. The park is a traditional duck feeding area; signs on adjacent roads even describe it as such. People frequently can be seen distributing bread from bags to flocks of geese and ducks that have become accustomed to handouts. For a number of reasons, however, feeding geese and other waterfowl is a bad idea.

As a general rule, any direct interaction between people and wildlife is detrimental to wildlife and often to the people as well. Sometimes this is obvious, as when we purposely harm wildlife for our amusement. But often the harm is less apparent, especially when it stems from actions intended to benefit wildlife. Feeding geese falls within this category. People do it because it is fun and geese seem to need and appreciate the food we give them. However, feeding geese is detrimental to them and may be harmful to us as well.

Geese, like all birds, are highly adapted to their specialized lifestyle. One important adaptation is a very fast digestive system. Birds have sacrificed some efficiency in their digestive process in order to process food quickly. A stomach full of food is extra weight that birds cannot afford to haul up into the air. As a result, geese produce a much greater volume of waste than most other animals of similar size. This volume is increased because of the low nutritional content of the food they eat, particularly when it consists of bread. Grass, a principal food source, passes through a goose in about two hours and grazing geese will excrete every seven minutes like clockwork. When geese are enticed to concentrate and remain in an area because of an artificial food supply, the area becomes subject to intense loading from their waste. This is more unpleasant than harmful, but it adds to the burden of nutrients and bacteria that a body of water must absorb.

The Canada Geese that we see nesting belong to a population distinct from the geese that originally wintered in the United States and migrated north to breed in the Canadian Arctic. Those geese were hunted and extirpated from New England. Efforts to reintroduce the birds resulted in the establishment of a larger subspecies that does not migrate. These geese have exchanged a safe breeding ground for one where traffic, predators and wildlife managers all take their toll. The growing population of resident geese represents a potential threat to the environment, a hazard to auto and air traffic, and a nuisance to property owners.