Honking and flapping, flocks of Canada geese fly each morning over Ken Allen’s house in Adobe Meadow. But rather than go south for the winter or head for the Baylands, these geese are headed for greener pastures — the playing fields at Mitchell Park.
In the verdant, well-irrigated fields, the flocks of geese feast on grass and small insects, leaving behind deposits of excrement.
To Allen, they are a problem.
“If they are in the duck ponds, that’s one thing, but they are becoming a nuisance in the park,” he said. It’s not just a few majestic ganders and their gals, either.
“The largest flight of Canada geese I have seen to date fled Mitchell Park this morning about 7:20 a.m.,” he said on Thursday. “Several noisy formations — in total approaching 100 — woke the neighbors as they flew low over the library and the neighborhood.”
Given the reputation of geese as mean creatures prone to attacking intruders in their territory, Allen said he is concerned for children who might get too close to the emboldened animals, which may feel they have more clout in numbers.
“If they are growing in population by 50 percent per year (as they seem to be), it’s going to become a very big problem — more than a nuisance,” he said.
Geese have been a persistent issue throughout Palo Alto, especially at the Palo Alto Golf Course, said Daren Anderson, City of Palo Alto division manager of Open Space, Parks and Golf. The city hires a company with trained herding dogs to help encourage the birds to move off of the course, he said.
And the battle of the geese has caused local cities and government agencies to join forces.
“Palo Alto, Mountain View, Moffett, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all work cooperatively to help control Canada geese population growth by addling the eggs (the eggs are coated with oil to prevent them from developing and hatching). We’ve been doing this for about eight years,” Anderson said.
But that hasn’t deterred the growing population.
“The non-migratory population of Canada geese in our region have been an issue for quite some time. I’m not sure if this year is any worse than last year; though it seems that the numbers aren’t decreasing at all,” he added.
Cody Mccartney, Palo Alto animal-control supervisor, said his department doesn’t have any plans to control the geese population. In an email to Allen, Mccartney said it is illegal to trap or relocate any wild animal without the proper permits from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, even for the city.
“Unfortunately there is not a lot we can/are able to do about the growing Canada goose population in Palo Alto. They have found a place with adequate food and mild weather. … Why go anywhere else?” he wrote.
Cody told the Weekly in an email this week that “Animal Services is pretty much ‘hands off’ wildlife unless the wildlife is sick, injured, dead, or aggressive. We ask the public to live with wildlife, and do what they can to deter wildlife from becoming a nuisance, and refer them to private pest control services to handle nuisance wildlife.”
Canada geese are state and federally protected under laws and regulations within the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and California Fish and Game Code. Craig Stowers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Region 3 manager of the environmental program, said there is no current permit process to allow for the removal or killing of Canada geese, but there is a process that allows for removing nests and eggs, which would help limit the population.
Eighteen counties can take nests and eggs without the need for a permit; Santa Clara is one of them, he said in an email.
There could also be environmental reasons for the increase in Canada geese. While their numbers might appear to indicate a healthier ecosystem, Stowers said the opposite seems to be true.
“The numbers of geese most likely are an indicator of the poor health and lack of water in their normal wetland habitats; the drought is concentrating populations and they are going where (water) is,” he said.
Despite all the hype about avian influenza, the geese don’t typically carry diseases that are harmful to people, Stowers said.
Resident Allen, though, worries that goose poop could pose a health hazard, especially since kids tumble and slide in local playing fields.
Allen isn’t the only one concerned about the birds. Other residents, posting on a neighborhood email list, have suggested using dogs and even hiring people to chase the geese away.
For anyone who is annoyed by the fowl, it is legal to “haze” or shoo them from private property, so long as the geese are not injured.
People interested in taking a more extreme action — hunting — would have to have a license and hunt in designated hunting locations, according to state Fish and Wildlife. Hunting the geese in city parks and on school fields is illegal, though, as is discharging a firearm within city limits, according to the agency.
The Geese come and go. They are hanging out at Mitchell Park because PAUSD reseeded the playing fields and has been amply watering them.
I have noticed that, for the last ten years, the geese in CA seem reluctant in the winter to go south, or in the summer to go back to Canada. Maybe the pickin’s in CA are just too good!
The threat to Palo Alto is not wildlife, it is over-crowding and over-building; it is traffic, high density, and over-population. I have no idea why Ken Allen is so “worried” about the Geese unless they pose a problem for development that he advocates. Hmmm…
I have children at Fairmeadow and JLS and live in Adobe Meadow. I am not at all concerned about the geese attacking the kids – I’m unaware of anything like that ever happening at Mitchell Park.
I am never awoken by the geese, I am awoken by airplanes and gardeners. I enjoy the sound of the geese flying overhead – it’s wildlife! Just the other day I walked from JLS through Mitchell Park and proceeded right through a group of Canada Geese – they stepped out of my way and didn’t make even a slightly threatening move.
Wildlife such as the Canada Geese should be preserved as much as possible. If we are going to eliminate the real nuisances, look to the airplanes, gardeners, developers, and builders.
By the way, the article title is, “Residents complain about geese invasion at Mitchell Park,” but only identifies one “resident.” Are there others that warrant the plural in the title, or is it just one resident?
I think the big problem with the geese is that they foul the playing fields.
I know that it is no longer nice to sit on the grass around Shoreline lake because the grass is so fouled. At Mitchell Park, there is a lot of soccer and other games played on the grass. I doubt if it is very pleasant playing on fields which have been fouled by geese.
On the East Coast, in what is known as the Atlantic Flyway, flocks of geese descend on fields and strip them bare in a short period. Luckily for the farmers, most of the harvests are in, but sometimes a farmer slow to harvest all of his crops will lose them to the geese.
Usually the geese descend in fairly large numbers—if one happens to be standing around near one of these goose landing zones, the sounds are deafening. It’s not hard to believe for a moment, or two, that a 747 is about to land in the nearby fields.
So .. if there aren’t thousands of these geese wintering in Palo Alto, maybe we are more lucky than those folks living on the East Coast.
I think the concern is the Geese poop. We no longer picnic at Shoreline because there is poop everywhere. It is very unpleasant. If children are playing and practicing sports on the Mitchell Park fields this could very well be a concern.
The problem is our leaders are incompetent!
They let these illegals come from Canada and go around honking everywhere. MILLIONS of these invaders from the North just come and go while our government just looks the other way. Every one of them is a poopist and steals food. Do they pay taxes? No! Worst of all, many of them come here for the specific purpose of having anchor goslings and never leaving, so their numbers are just going to keep growing.
When I’m in charge, I am going to build the biggest glass wall on our northern border so that these bad dudes won’t come here anymore. And Canada is going to pay for it! And while we’re waiting for that wall to be built, I’m going to have trained Army foxes strike the foreign training nests where all of these avian adversaries originate!
Ronald Trump
Where’s the LOL button when you need it?
People are coming from all over to live in Palo Alto, why not the geese. Is this some type of discrimination or what?
They are migratory birds. They were here before you. So live with them or leave. It’s that simple
Is this article to be taken seriously or is this just an attempt by the weekly on a slow news day to stir up some “outrage”. Maybe the weekly should write a stern editorial about this that will get some action . Also I am sure the councils looking for things to do rather than address the potential flooding from the creek this winter .
Has this town gone mad? Leave these migratory birds alone. There are other issues to deal with like STOP wasting my tax dollars on waste fraud and abuse at City Hall. Kapeech?
Kapeech? Is that related to viola? Or ect?
Has anybody reported them to the FAA? Geese are a proven hazard to low-flying aircraft, including airliners https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549. These birds could be allies in our battle for quiet skies.
Airplanes aren’t flying low above Mitchell Park.
Put out coyote decoys and get a coyote howler (game call) and the geese will disappear back to the baylands.
Coyotes and foxes would help. Their predators are absent, that is why there are so many. It is really gross on the playing fields and in the school yards. I am a PE teacher and I dislike it very much.
Upside-Down Roast Canada Goose
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg1196/cangoose.html#axzz3mFGcdzR1
You should stop yabbing complaints and live with it! Geese will NOT bother you unless you bother them.
Can Sky Posse get involved?
I heard rice & alkaseltzer is very good for Geese… Muuuwaaaahhhhaha.. (evil laugh)
To midtown resident.
You’re absolutely incorrect when you say that geese won’t bother you unless you bother them.
First, they’ll leave their poop all over the field, walkways, benches and everything else. This is called ‘fouling’. When you can’t walk, jump, or play in the parks because you’ll be covered in poop, the field is no longer useful, whether or not the geese are there.
Second, the geese *will* bite and hiss at people who are nearby. They don’t even stay in one place, and will happily occupy walkways.
My guess is that you don’t use the park, and don’t have kids, else you’d feel differently about the fact that these things are preventing us from letting our kids get some outdoor time in a safe environment.
You don’t believe me? Doesn’t matter. It is true. Go to Shoreline and see if you can walk down the sidewalk along the lake. Nope. The geese will not bother to move and will hiss.
Or are you suggesting that humans should no longer use the park?
What about toddlers? No safe place for them to practice walking?
Suggestion:
1 – Install a loud hand ringable bell at the park
2 – Once a day ring the bell AND then let everyone’s dogs run off leash for 15 min. – The geese will rapidly depart
3 – Repeat this every day for a week.
4 – At the end of the week the sound of the bell should be sufficient to scare off the geese – dogs would no longer be required.
Problem – where will the geese go?
Mr. Ronald Trump, A “glass wall” at the US/Canada border. How abour explandbf that S.P.L.A.T. art project detailed on PA online 4/1/15? A local solution for a local problem.
Now, it I could just train my lapdog to take an interest in geese on the mobile webbed foot instead of just the roasted variety…
@Oldster from Old Palo Alto:
The experience you describe is nothing like what we have at Mitchell Park. I’m not sure if you ever get down to this end of Town, but I live close by, my kids go to school at Fairmeadow and JLS, and my kids play sports on the fields. I’ve many times been in close proximity to the geese and they didn’t bother me at all. Shoreline is a very different situation – there you are more likely to be near where the geese actually live. Mitchell Park is just a nice place they hang out for a few hours – they aren’t nesting and living there.
I’d much rather see the geese there than off-leash dogs.
@Peter:
Thanks, but I have no interest in a loud, ringing bell – we have enough trouble trying to find peace and quiet from the airplanes without adding to the noise.
Leave the Geese Alone, I didn’t mean to imply only Mitchell Park had a local geese problem, just tired to find some solutions others, like the April Fools PA Online writers did.
Seriously, if the Mitchel Park geese are just the hanging out a few hours each day and not nesting or overnighting… I wonder if they are the geese rousted daily from Shoreline Park by industrious collies who take an annual spring break only during nesting owl season. If we want to keep the geese out of our City parks with our enticing green lawns, we need to coordinate our efforts. I’d suggest the City Parks dept ask Shorelne for its collie schedule and get some working dogs over here to keep those geese moving where they are not welcome. If we don’t we may as well just out out a welcome mat for them.
@Leave the Geese Alone,
Sit down! Sit down! Sit Down! You can’t even tell who is disagreeing with you. And your poll numbers are terrible. Your best post has 20 likes. What a joke. Eighty percent of them are from geese using the free Wi-Fi at Mitchell Park Library, and the rest are from your family and probation officer.
Listen, Canada’s leaders are much smarter than ours. They’re not sending their best birds here; they’re sending their worst. How many loons, grebes, cormorants, or egrets do you see around here from Canada? Yeah, that’s right: zero. Canada geese are the second most unpopular import from Canada. Only Ted Cruz is worse.
If you’re such a goose-lover, why don’t you open up your house and have them live with you? Or at least drive them to Cubberly. Now get out of here.
Peter Carpenter,
“Problem – where will the geese go?”
True, we would not want to shift a problem (if there is one) to another community.
All this Canada geese thing sounds pretty funny…until one has to deal with it.
I help to take care of the Little League park next door to Mitchell park. Trust me, the geese are a real problem, especially when they find it uncomfortable at Mitchell…then come over to land and eat at PALL. And poop, big time!
The geese need to be harassed to get out of town, as the traditional seasons dictate. This used to be called seasonal migration. Way too many PA citizens being too kind to them (the birds are smart…why migrate?).
Some tough love is in order.
@Oldster:
My apologies – my response was actually meant for Mitchell Park User from Professorville. I’m not sure how I made that mistake – I hadn’t even started drinking yet today. I did walk across the Mitchell Park field so probably inhaled noxious goose poop fumes that altered my state of mind. Who needs medical marijuana when goose poop is becoming so plentiful!
Craig,
Finally someone in this town who can think straight. I’m sending you two free VIP tickets to my upcoming Trump University seminar at the San Jose Airport Sheraton. I won’t be there, but my people will take great care of you.
Palo Alto has been a sanctuary city for too long. We have been way too nice to these birds that are displacing patriotic American birds. The Migratory Bird Treaty has been a disaster since it was signed. It’s the NAFTA of bird treaties. You know it’s bad when the liberal bozos at the Fish and Wildlife Service are performing abortions on the geese eggs.
On my first day in office, I’m going to abrogate the MBTA and send these geese back where they belong. And you know what? I’m also going to send loser American birds with them. There’s this flock of pigeons roosting in the eaves at my world-renowned Mar-a-Lago Club in beautiful Palm Beach, FL that will be the first to go.
Ronald Trump
“Making Palo Alto even greater so we can stop being insecure if it’s great enough”
How about we expand the Downtown Streets Team to come down to Mitchell Park and clean up the grass? It’s about time that the city paid attention to south of Oregon Expressway. The focus is always on downtown or the “rich” part of town.
:^)
/marc
This is a ridiculous so called problem. In this extreme drought condition, its no wonder that these birds flock to a lush green field. Every living being need food and water. Keep in mind that the birds will be on their own way as the seasons change. I hope the person with the ‘problem’ can be patient (and perhaps find something more important to worry about, my goodness!)
>but my people will take great care of you.
Mr. Trump, forget about me…just have your people get rid of all the crows in Palo Alto, right after they take care of the geese problem. You will be an even greater man, at that point.
I love those geese, leave them alone!!!!
I lived in Redwood Shores for many years and loved the geese there, increasing in numbers each year and not migrating anywhere; permanent resident.
This stopped after I had kids and started using the parks with a different purpose. Try taking your toddler to the park and let him/her tumble along, fall down, pick up a leaf sit down on the grass, and try to experiment his/her senses and environment. How do you like all that with goose poop?!
The parks at RWS have been disgustingly dirty with all the geese poop. Now, we will see this in Pa as well?!
Common! The geese were here before us! Let us share the planet with the animals and stop complaining for having to accommodate a bit to make room for other beings in what we call “our space”. Every creature has a purpose and we are the ones who break the balance in nature, and then complain. Let them be!
It’s not surprising that the Geese have moved to our irrigated parks. Greg Stowers hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that the drought is causing wildlife to move to locations with fresh water. The freshwater lake at the Palo Alto Golf Course has been drained and will be filled and the new Golf Course is full of dry wadi’s. Most of the rest of the water in the Baylands is salt water. Since there is a drought, virtually no freshwater is flowing in the creeks. Palo Alto should consider providing a fresh water hole or two, filled with reclaimed water, in the Baylands to help wildlife survive in these dry times.
Some Canada geese stop near our house in Oregon for the winter. They apparently don’t care about seeing Palo Alto. I’m wondering where in the “south” they supposedly fly. Surely not Mexico. Too hot. After we (humans) take away habitat, we complain about birds and animals intruding on “our” land. Phooey on that, you selfish beings! Give the geese a break, as they’re only doing what they have always done: migrating.
Love Ronald Trump! Please enter the presidential race.
My place is next to Mitchell Park. I always leave my windows open to get nice breeze from the park. The air smells foul sometimes. Now that I have read this article, I think it is the geese poop, and not the fertilizer that the gardener spreads on the grass as I had always thought:(. I always wonder if it is harmful to my health to breathe in this foul smell daily.
Nature sure is a nuisance, sometimes.
Ronald Trump, you made my day! I sure wouldn’t mind some roast goose!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/229862/canada-goose-in-sweet-chili-sauce/
The nerve of nature to interfere with our privileged, entitled Palo Alto life styles.
Oh, boo hoo! Assign someone to petrol and clean up. (I’m pretty sure you can’t get Mother Nature to do a poop and scoop petrol on her geese.)
>The nerve of nature to interfere with our privileged, entitled Palo Alto life styles.
@ Elizabeth: Rats and mice and snakes are also part of nature. Please confirm that you are comfortable with them living in your house or yard with you. Most women I know can’t stand them…in fact, they tend to freak out and hire exterminators to kill them. What’s the difference between rats and geese…they are both part of nature?
It’s way past time for the geese to move on. No more all-year migration within Palo Alto. Most importantly, NO MORE POOP on our playing fields!
Why should the geese fly south when they have all the comforts of home here, including people ready and eager to feed them their lunches or chips or other unhealthy tidbits?
First, stop feeding the geese. Secondly, call the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society for humane recommendations. Their phone # is 408-252-3747. Too often we try to quickly solve problems of wildlife without taking into consideration that we are often the cause of their difficulties in the first place.
Secondly, perhaps their honking is a matter of perception. If we think of it as a positive welcoming sound of fall on its way, it will bring smiles rather than frowns.
“What’s the difference between rats and geese…they are both part of nature?”
Only someone of your “intellect” could have come up with that whopper.
But I guess you really don’t know any better.
I think Craig Laughton has a good point. I hate rats and snakes, they give me the creeps. But I also hate all that goose poop on my kids’ playing fields. Both are part of nature, and they both need to be controlled!
And it is exactly because of viewpoints that you have expressed that Palo Alto is called Shallow Alto.
Heaven forbid you were ever to live somewhere where nature isn’t as “controlled” as you wish.
Gee Craig!
Could you possibly make a more sexist statement ?
Craig’s comment about women being freaked out about rats is true! I am, and so are all my girlfriends. It is hardly sexist, if it true. Women and men differ in many fundamental ways, and the rat thing is one of them. Simply can’t stand them!
>> Women and men differ in many fundamental ways, and the rat thing is one of them.
Ha ha ha! Sorry, “June”, but not all women scream at rats, mice, or snakes. Only women who have been conditioned to believe that’s how they should react react that way.
Jerry’s statement is ridiculously sexist and merely represents the conditioning women were subjected to back in “his day.” Nothing to do with today.
Mr. Trump, we need more comments like yours.
Unfortunately a lot of stories about Palo Alto start with the phrase “Residents complain ….” Just need to fill in the blank.
This one is very far down the list of things to be concerned about.
First world problems, reporting live from Palo Alto where people’s noses are high in the trees. Can’t you guys complain about real problems, like poverty, child hunger, etc etc. I swear if there is ever to be a future where humans colonize the moon, you people would be the first in line to be first to be secluded from the world’s gardeners and geese.
Minority Report:
The article wasn’t about any of those things. Is it surprising that people are talking about the article?
If you expect comments about poverty, child hunger (I’ve experienced this, have you?), you should probably look at comments in an article about or related to such things, instead of things which affect resident quality of life.
There’s plenty of fresh water for the geese at the Baylands, at Emily Renzel Wetlands, at the duck pond, at the outflow from the sewage treatment plant near the airport, and there are lots of geese in these places. Some geese over-winter at the Baylands and golf course, but most migrate away during winter. There’s a large summer population, and they split their time between the bay, parks, and golf courses. Lawns are an easy source of food for them.
I noticed there are no geese in the dog run at Mitchell Park, suggesting that if dogs were allowed off-leash in the rest of the park, the geese might move on.
The Arapahoe Sheriffs Department has a lush lawn in front of it. Guess where the Canadian Geese go? Ft. Logan Cemetery has green tended lawns. Guess where the Canadian Geese go? ( PUN FIRMLY INTENDED! )
Think outside your box. Pull a lawn sweeper behind your mower, then SELL THE LEAVINGS AS FERTILIZER!
I don’t think people in the SFBA are ready to have any NATURAL PREDATORS yet. What happens to Mountain Lions found in LOS GATOS, for instance. ( real irony if you speak Mexican ).
You used to have several Wild Dog Packs out in The Baylands. Then the “ 1000 Ways to Wok your Dog “ crowd showed up. No more Geese predators anymore. When Corporate Jets start appearing at PAO, you might have a “ New York Moment “ when a jet motor meets a Canadian Goose. Or that noisy San Carlos turboprop. just think, no more noise when PAO gets shut down for good! The citizens of EPA will thank you! Taxpayers in Palo Alto will thank you even more!
The waterways protect the Canadian Geese from predators. Unless you get some fierce Northern Pike or Alligator Gars…or better yet, just import real ALLIGATORS and Crocodiles….Oops, now we have a problem with lost children or family pets…
I think your best option is to sack it all up and sell it as fertilizer…( a VERY OLD saying…When it hits the fan….)
Geeze (pun intended)
Palo Alto has a bigger problem with the low flying jumbo jets day and night and you are worried about the geese? I find the geese are much adorable when compared to those noisy iron birds overhead !!
Since some people don’t think that wildlife (nature) should be controlled, then let’s just ban all exterminators in Palo Alto, including rat and mice and mosquito controls…why are they any different, compared with geese?
Comparing mosquitoes to geese? You have no clue, do you?
To Mitchell Park User: I walk at Shoreline nearly every day, and have for years. Yes, there are lots of geese, but no, I have never been hissed at or had geese block the walkway along the lake. I don’t know why you have a problem with them. Seeing the goslings in the Spring is wonderful, by the way. I’m saddened to know that people are trying to tamper with their eggs. Watching the geese, one sees what devoted parents they are.
I just stumbled onto this interesting, informative discussion on Oregon Public Radio, about urban geese, and an effort to clear them from a park in Portland — using border collies.
http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/thinkoutloud/segment/geese-create-poop-problem-for-portland/