Welcome to Feral Geese Counts

In Europe wild and feral geese frequently inhabit artificial lakes and their surrounding parks in urban and suburban areas. These parks are appreciated by people for their recreational and aesthetic value. However, this often brings geese in conflict with people.

Several strategies have been used in the past to discourage and redistribute geese, but to find cost effective, sustainable solutions we need to consider habitat modifications. For example, geese generally have a preference for young nutrient rich grass of a certain length. They prefer easy access to water, either for roosting or predator avoidance. They avoid woodland and need open areas for taking off and landing, though they will walk to forage for food.

These preferences vary between species and with the season. Understanding these habitat preferences better provides scope for improvement in habitat management of geese.  We are studying this by counting the geese around the National Botanic Garden of Belgium.