7-6 SS Geese Predators

 Are geese nesting declines related to predators?

State biologists and a team of volunteers plan to fit up to a thousand Canada geese with leg bands this month in a study by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife of goose population trends in eastern Washington.

Goose nesting counts have been declining for over a decade in most rural survey areas. Now in its fourth year, the study is designed to develop a better understanding of nesting declines and hunter harvest patterns.  I asked Mikal Moore, a WDFW waterfowl specialist who the main predators are for geese and is hunting related to decline: “I don’t think anybody believes it is related to hunting or over-hunting the population especially since the season has been closed for several years now. I would probably put coyotes at the top of that list. There’s two different ways to think about it. Coyotes are capable of taking an adult goose and killing it. But you also have nest predators. You have crows, gulls, raccoons, skunks, all of those things are common predators in terms of the babies they are perfectly happy to go and grab an egg. Crows can be quite devastating to a nesting colony but that only happens if the birds are distracted or inattentive because geese will defend their nests whereas ducks almost exclusively rely on camouflage. Geese are big enough to defend their nests but sometimes they can’t manage that against a coyote.