Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
Canada geese (Branta canadensis) often cause significant damage when they strike aircraft. They are responsible for a reported minimum of $2.6 million in damage per year to civil aviation in the United States. Knowledge of goose movements in relation to airports would allow wildlife managers to allo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Utah State University
2017-02-01
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| Series: | Human-Wildlife Interactions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol3/iss2/13 |
| _version_ | 1818806729809330176 |
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| author | Thomas W. Seamans Scott E. Clemons Allen L. Gosser |
| author_facet | Thomas W. Seamans Scott E. Clemons Allen L. Gosser |
| author_sort | Thomas W. Seamans |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Canada geese (Branta canadensis) often cause significant damage when they strike aircraft. They are responsible for a reported minimum of $2.6 million in damage per year to civil aviation in the United States. Knowledge of goose movements in relation to airports would allow wildlife managers to allocate time and funds to manage those populations that pose the greatest threat to aircraft. We placed alpha-numeric neck collars on 300 Canada geese within 8 km of both John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFKIA) and LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York. We conducted weekly observations for 2 years within a 12- km radius of JFKIA at locations used by the geese. At the conclusion of the study, 45% of the collared geese remained within an 8-km radius of JFKIA, and four were killed at JFKIA during wildlife control operations. We observed birds at their original banding sites 75% of the time, and within 5 km of the banding location 95% of the time. Geese that remained in the study area were re-sighted at a mean straight-line distance of 3.6 (±3.1) km from their original banding location. We note that 78% of the re-sighting locations used by geese were within 8 km of JFKIA and that movements of these geese could take them over or onto JFKIA. Oiling goose eggs to kill the embryos, rounding up of flightless birds within 8 km of the airport, and bird-control activities at JFKIA and nearby areas all should be continued to reduce the probability of a catastrophic bird strike between aircraft using JFKIA and local Canada geese. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T19:14:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-856cab7c11024e709a875a60a5c39bb6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2155-3874 2155-3874 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T19:14:24Z |
| publishDate | 2017-02-01 |
| publisher | Utah State University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Human-Wildlife Interactions |
| spelling | doaj.art-856cab7c11024e709a875a60a5c39bb62022-12-21T20:56:10ZengUtah State UniversityHuman-Wildlife Interactions2155-38742155-38742017-02-013210.26077/rpj9-2d02Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New YorkThomas W. Seamans0Scott E. Clemons1Allen L. Gosser2U.S. Department of Agriculture/Wildlife ServicesU.S. Department of Agriculture/Wildlife ServicesU.S. Department of Agriculture/Wildlife ServicesCanada geese (Branta canadensis) often cause significant damage when they strike aircraft. They are responsible for a reported minimum of $2.6 million in damage per year to civil aviation in the United States. Knowledge of goose movements in relation to airports would allow wildlife managers to allocate time and funds to manage those populations that pose the greatest threat to aircraft. We placed alpha-numeric neck collars on 300 Canada geese within 8 km of both John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFKIA) and LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York. We conducted weekly observations for 2 years within a 12- km radius of JFKIA at locations used by the geese. At the conclusion of the study, 45% of the collared geese remained within an 8-km radius of JFKIA, and four were killed at JFKIA during wildlife control operations. We observed birds at their original banding sites 75% of the time, and within 5 km of the banding location 95% of the time. Geese that remained in the study area were re-sighted at a mean straight-line distance of 3.6 (±3.1) km from their original banding location. We note that 78% of the re-sighting locations used by geese were within 8 km of JFKIA and that movements of these geese could take them over or onto JFKIA. Oiling goose eggs to kill the embryos, rounding up of flightless birds within 8 km of the airport, and bird-control activities at JFKIA and nearby areas all should be continued to reduce the probability of a catastrophic bird strike between aircraft using JFKIA and local Canada geese.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol3/iss2/13airportbird–aircraft collisionbranta canadensiscanada goosehome rangehuman–wildlife conflictsmovementsneck collars |
| spellingShingle | Thomas W. Seamans Scott E. Clemons Allen L. Gosser Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York Human-Wildlife Interactions airport bird–aircraft collision branta canadensis canada goose home range human–wildlife conflicts movements neck collars |
| title | Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York |
| title_full | Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York |
| title_fullStr | Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York |
| title_full_unstemmed | Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York |
| title_short | Observations of Neck-Collared Canada Geese Near John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York |
| title_sort | observations of neck collared canada geese near john f kennedy international airport new york |
| topic | airport bird–aircraft collision branta canadensis canada goose home range human–wildlife conflicts movements neck collars |
| url | https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol3/iss2/13 |
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