Consequences of hunter harvest, winter weather, and increasing population size on survival of non‐migratory Canada geese in Connecticut

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the last few decades, non‐migratory populations of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) have become established in metropolitan areas throughout North America. We banded 1,845 Canada geese in New Haven County, Connecticut, and studied goose survival of geese from 1984 through 2001, a period when local goose numbers increased several fold. Males outnumbered females among adults but not among juveniles. The hunter‐recovery proportion (probability that a goose was harvested by a hunter and its band reported to the U.S. Banding Lab) was 0.17 for all banded geese and was higher for males (0.19) than females (0.15). We used the Seber band‐recovery model in Program MARK to estimate the annual recovery rate and annual survival rate. The annual recovery rate was 0.22 for all geese and varied by year. The annual survival rate was 0.72 for all geese; survival was higher for females than males and higher for juveniles than adults. Survival rates varied among years and decreased in years with higher winter temperatures or more geese observed during Audubon's Christmas Bird Count. During our study, special hunting seasons in Connecticut targeted non‐migratory geese. Despite this, we found survival rates to be at the high end of values reported elsewhere, and the number of geese killed by hunters in Connecticut did not influence survival. Our results suggest that it will be difficult for wildlife agencies to rely solely on hunting to reduce the size of non‐migratory goose populations. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.