Waterfowl roundup — The country goose and the city goose

The roundup began shortly after dawn. Over the roar of the airboat engines, there was the splashing of water, the flapping of wings and the haunting honking of Canada geese.

Slowly, but efficiently, the geese came together in one large group, then walked out of the water into large open pens.

Once contained, they were singled out, captured and carried to a station where they were fitted with aluminum bands. They were then taken to new homes far, far away.

All total, for the first week, 1,708 of what are labeled "urban geese" were captured off golf-course ponds and inner-city waterways. The following week a similar number of wild geese on wildlife refuges were captured, banded, but they were released back into their wild habitat.

The so-called urban geese have become a nuisance in recent years, particularly on local golf courses. They roost on the fairways and leave their droppings on the grass and greens.

"It's something we had to do," Tom Aldrich, migratory game bird coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said with respect to the capture and movement.

"We've had to do something with the geese in the inner city. We've had too many complaints to simply ignore the problem."

Ten years ago, geese stayed away from city life.

Then a few discovered and liked city living, they in turn raised young that were imprinted with city living, and they in turn raised more young.

As a result, several thousand geese have taken to the city life in recent years.

The reason, said Aldrich, is the birds have found these areas offer ideal living conditions ... open green space with ponds, food and no predators.

"They've also learned to habituate with people. They know people won't hurt them. They can accommodate living in close proximity with people," he said. "Also, the mild winters we've had haven't forced the geese to move south."

Wildlife officers were able to capture the wild geese, because during most of the month of June they are grounded. Geese lose old feathers and until new ones grow, they can't fly. Typically, they are able to start flying in the first week of July.

According to Mark Hansen, waterfowl area supervisor, the first phase involved removing geese from the lake west of the Lee Kay Center near 5600 West and 2100 South. Crews then went to eight golf courses and three apartment complexes.

They captured and banded 938 adults and 770 juveniles. Adults were given a red band and juveniles a yellow band.

The adults were then taken to goose habitat to the south at the Clear Lake management area west of Fillmore. The juveniles were taken north to the Salt Creek management area west of Corinne.

The hope is they will stay in the wild and not return to city living.