We started working for some of our clients, this year back in February. They were already getting geese on their properties. But that didn’t last too long as winter storms arrived in March. However, the snowfall was variable from even town to town, and we were soon back to work in a limited way. Through March and into early April our client list slowly increased as clients wanted us especially to keep geese pairs from nesting. This client list includes municipalities, schools, golf courses, corporates and some privet clients.
Most of April didn’t feel like Spring to anyone, but maybe it did to the wildlife, including the geese. Many different types of birds have been here for weeks. Robins were hopping around on my lawn in the last wind-driven storm, and Red Winged Black Birds have been singing for a long time. Depending on the location, geese had started to become territorial or not. We found only a few geese pairs who had gone to nesting. Unlike most years the timing of when geese nest seems variable this year. The weather has made it a hard early goose control season to figure out what is going on.
On a recent quiet Sunday morning, I slipped the kayak into a calm Berkshire County, Massachusetts Lake. The water was still as glass, and the air warmed from the evening chill. Spring, real Spring had finally arrived. Blade our three and half year old Border Collie sat in the kayak in front of me. We were looking for any nesting pairs near a clients property. It was so quiet I could almost hear the fishermen cast across the Lake. Blade and I did spot two pairs of geese. Our presence lets geese know they should stay away from our client’s property and gives me an idea of geese activity on the Lake. One of these pairs had nested on an island, and the other pair had not done so yet. As we got out of the kayak on the client’s shoreline, I marveled at the morning’s warmth, how refreshing to be out on a morning such as that.The weeks before had us working in cold, windblown weather that the geese did not seem to mind, though they mostly had postponed nesting.
For our next goose control visit, I drove up into the higher hills of Berkshire County in Massachusetts. The property we were visiting is on an old reservoir which several summer camps and residences use. Our client’s property has a beach and an inlet from the Lake which geese like to frequent. They nest in spring and raise their young in summer. The families of geese cause a great disturbance, getting in the way, leaving amazing amounts of droppings on sandy beach and lawns. The male geese can be aggressive toward people, camp kids, and counselors too.
This Lake on this Sunday Morning was still partially iced over. The air was also a bit colder, and the water had a bit of a chop to it, more like late winter.This time Nash, one of our rehomed dogs sat in the kayak with me. Nash is not a Border Collie but a rehomed mix breed that has been with us for three years. Years ago he would not sit quietly in a kayak on a goose control trip to help chase geese, but now he does very well. As I paddled through the choppy water, cold spray hit our faces.The geese either flew a ways further into the Lake or hopped up on the ice of partially still frozen Lake. None of these geese had nested yet. Spring had not entirely settled in at the camp.
As Nash and Blade and I loaded back into the vehicle and were to set for home in New York, I thought of how different the two Lakes were that morning. I had goose control visits in the Hudson River Valley of New York in the afternoon, and the temperature and arrival of Spring would be even more striking. On our visits, that afternoon we encountered many runners, walkers, fishermen, and even a lemonade stand. Everyone was enjoying the arrival of Spring in New York’s Capital District.
As evening set in on our very last goose control visit, the Border Collies and I were walking along a dock next to the Hudson River. A late middleaged couple sat on a bench enjoying a Spring evening, finally. Jim, our oldest Border Collie, and Skye were my team that afternoon. As we walked past the couple, Jim reached out with his head and gave a warm, dignified look to say hi to the couple. The woman patted Jim, and the man remarked, “Isn’t it a nice evening.?” ” Yes, I said, much better!” We all laughed and Jim, and Skye and I walked on into the evening’s warmth.