Anticipating the spring arrival of both ducks and our annoying pair of Canada geese, 92P and 88K, I asked our building engineer if he could keep an eye out for the geese, which nest atop the Chemistry Department roof in the same spot every year. (I presume the goslings leap down the side of the three-story building to get to Botany Pond.) I hoped that we could chase the pair away before they nested. The engineer informed me that he’d already “done something” to deter the geese from nesting. I asked him what he did.
He pulled out his cellphone and showed me what he’d placed facing the spot where the geese nest:
Will it work? I hope so, as the geese interfere with the mallards. He also said he had a spray called “Goose Away” that he’d use later.
All I can say is “LOL”.
Holy Bejesus – that is hilarious – I want one for my yard!!
I agree! What a kick.
It’s like the owl for woodpeckers.
Habitat restoration has consequences! How many buildings at UC have these prairie-like roofs–the greening of chemistry rises to new heights.
I love the critter and it reminded me of a nearby homeowner who constructed some plywood cutouts of coyotes (beautifully painted)in and alley I sometimes walk through to scare the turkeys. The cutouts are still there as are the turkeys who I frequently watch fly up into the trees–a lovely way to end a day. And now we have the real things: coyote reportings are common now and the turkeys are doing just fine, too.
One can’t help but like the engineer who dreamed this up.
I can report that a wolf statue is an effective Canadian goose deterrent – for a while, at least.
This example though is comical/horrifying.
Don’t hold your breath with that. The Humane Society says most decoys don’t work, although ones on swivels work better than static ones.
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/humanely-scare-away-canada-geese
Poor geese! 😎
A Scaregoose. I love it!
And thanks for teaching me it’s Canada goose/geese…I’d been saying it wrong for decades.
Scaregoose? Can the Tin Woman or the Cowardly Tiger be far behind?
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.
heh, heh
LOL! <– First time I ever typed that!
Why’s the Wile E. in a blue box?
The thomas jefferson national accelerator facility (jlab) in newport news virginia has about a dozen four-foot long black german shephard silhouetes that rotate spread across their campus to scare off varmints from geese to deer. I do not know if they have been effective but they have been deployed now for several years.
Canada Geese are assholes. I worked in a park with them for years though I did feed them pizza crust and they were rather polite about it. Thinking back I’m surprised I wasn’t mobbed & killed. It also made me laugh how they’d surround cars and not let them pass down the road in the park. I just kept driving as I knew their tricks. I remember seeing them hiss at me for it.
Some images just burn themselves indelibly into one’s consciousness, don’t they. I rode my bicycle cautiously through a gang of Egyptian geese in a park the other day. A homeless guy was sitting on a park bench watching me and obviously expecting an attack, but I managed to maintain a non-threatening, panic-free tempo. After I’d made it through, I said to him “Couragous eh? (Mutig, oder?)” And he bowed his head respectfully.
😆😁🦢
Their poop is huge!
Yeah people used to complain to me that a dog had pooped everywhere and they were shocked when I said “nope, it’s the geese”.
I remember going to parks by the lake when my kids were small and in strollers. Goose poop city! And then you had to fold up the stroller and put it in the car…
What if the goose-lovers of U of C take the same approach to the mallards? What’s sauce for the goose…
WE have no goose lovers that I know of.
Canada geese are strangely entitled, arrogant creatures who virtually take over certain streets near the water in my town. A decoy model of a wolf won’t deter them very well, but why not put a real wolf in the location to do the job?
Why not Elmer Fudd, and then have the ducks hold a sign that says goose season.
+1
Typical anti-immigrant shenanigans against these poor geese! I bet if these were good old American geese they would be welcomed with open arms (wings?. USA! USA! USA! Given that these are Canadian (sic) Geese, I also expect they say sorry every time they hiss at Jerry or displace a mallard. Assholes, but polite assholes….
Well, if it doesn’t work let me know, I could use him. I have three little pigs squatting in the houses next door to me…
My wife’s home town, Sandpoint, Idaho, has a real problem with geese at the city beach on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille. The beach has a large grassy area and is a popular place for locals and visitors to relax in the summer. Unfortunately, there are geese in residence. They eat the grass and then they poop everywhere. The city has tried using fake coyote decoys, which were moved around and even had an authentic coyote smell, but the geese quickly learned to ignore them. Then the city captured the entire flock of geese and transported them forty miles south to Lake Coeur d’Alene, but the geese simply flew back to Sandpoint. Now the city is considering culling the flock, although there are vocal opponents of that plan.
Boy they must be pretty annoying neighbours, albeit temporary, for you guys to go to so much trouble…. Then again where did he get it from? Would it work on feral cats do you think?
Is the roof of the chemistry department deliberately cover in vegetation? If not, keeping it clean and free from detritus might help deter the geese.
Poor geese!!!
That same wolf/coyote was put on my ballfield ten years ago, to little or no effect. (Goose turd is slippery & dangerous to outfielders.)
It could be said geese have a problem WITH humans, they’re everywhere and no amount of pooping seems to deter them…