Survival of Atlantic Flyway resident population Canada geese in New Jersey

Abstract

Atlantic Flyway Resident Population Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are long-lived birds that were established during the mid-1900s. At high densities, resident Canada geese reduce water quality, impair landscape aesthetic, damage crops, and cause safety concerns. Managers need information about survival to more effectively manage these populations via implementation of harvest and cull regulations. We analyzed records for 39,711 Canada geese captured 54,309 times during 1994-2011, of which 5,883 were recovered by the summer of 2012. We used the Burnham model to estimate survival, recapture rate, recovery, and fidelity and identify factors that affect them. Candidate models included combinations of sex, age class, year, hunting season length, bag limit, total harvest, number culled, the North Atlantic Oscillation Index, density, an indicator for urban banded birds, and percent agriculture, natural, rural, and urban land cover at the last known capture location. The best-supported model included effects of age class, year, and whether the individual was banded in an urban or rural locale on survival and effects of year and locale on Seber recovery rate. We used it to construct a hierarchical model to estimate mean survival and Seber recovery rates for urban and rural birds and their variances. Mean survival of after-hatch-year urban Canada geese was 0.724 (95% CI: 0.675-0.772) and that of after-hatch-year rural geese was 0.718 (0.665-0.770). Based on estimates of survival and recovery, mean harvest rate was 3.8% (3.4-4.2%) for after-hatch-year urban geese and 7.8% (6.7-9.0%) for after-hatch-year rural geese. Hatch-year geese in rural areas had lower survival and higher harvest rates than after-hatch-year geese, but the opposite was true in urban areas. Survival generally decreased over the course of the study and harvest increased. Hatch-year males had the lowest fidelity of any group, and afterhatch-year geese of both sexes had fidelity greater than 85%. Knowledge of survival and its relationship with management and environmental factors will allow managers to better predict population responses to harvest and cull and to achieve population goals. Ó 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Survival rates and harvest patterns of Ohio‐Banded Canada geese

“…We found that survival of both adult rural and adult urban geese was greater during mild winters than during severe and moderate winters. Adult survival was comparable to other published survival rates (0.65) for temperate breeding geese in mid-latitude states (Lawrence et al 1998) and somewhat lower than published survival rates for Atlantic Flyway temperate breeding populations (0.828, 0.718-0.724, and 0.717-0.810, Johnson and Castelli 1998, Beston et al 2014, Conover et al 2015. Even though urban-rural status was an important predictor variable in the highest-ranked model, we found a smaller difference in survival when comparing survival of urban and rural cohorts of geese in Ohio compared with other published studies (Balkcom 2010, Beston et al 2014.…”

“…Adult survival was comparable to other published survival rates (0.65) for temperate breeding geese in mid-latitude states (Lawrence et al 1998) and somewhat lower than published survival rates for Atlantic Flyway temperate breeding populations (0.828, 0.718-0.724, and 0.717-0.810, Johnson and Castelli 1998, Beston et al 2014, Conover et al 2015. Even though urban-rural status was an important predictor variable in the highest-ranked model, we found a smaller difference in survival when comparing survival of urban and rural cohorts of geese in Ohio compared with other published studies (Balkcom 2010, Beston et al 2014. This may be a limitation of how urban and rural status was designated (i.e., post hoc Geographic Information System analysis as compared with other studies where urban or rural status was identified at the time of banding) or there might only be slight differences between urban and rural goose survival at the state level in Ohio.…”

Survival and harvest of Atlantic Flyway resident population Canada Geese

“…In 56 state–year combinations, juvenile survival was higher than adult survival; whereas, the remaining 48 state–year combinations showed no difference. Previous studies of migratory Canada geese found that juveniles had lower survival than adults (Pollock 1981, Samuel et al 1990), whereas resident Canada geese had higher survival for juveniles in some areas (Groepper et al , Beston et al ). One potential reason that juvenile Canada geese from resident populations may fare better than those from subarctic‐nesting populations is that resident population geese migrate only short distances, if at all, and thus experience reduced migration costs.…”

“…Our estimates of annual survival of Resident geese are similar to previous estimates from states within the Atlantic Flyway and from other temperate‐breeding Canada goose populations. Adult geese in New Jersey had a survival rate of approximately 0.72 (1994–2011; Beston et al ), and Resident geese at a rural study site in Georgia had an annual survival rate of 0.682 (2001–2006; Balkcom ). Survival of locally nesting adult geese in southern Ontario (1989–2009) ranged from 0.57 to 0.90 (Iverson et al ).…”

“…Survival during 1969–1988 of 2 reference populations of resident Canada geese in the northern part of the Atlantic Flyway was estimated by Johnson and Castelli (); and in the mid‐1980s, Hestbeck and Malecki () estimated combined survival of both resident and migratory geese in the flyway. More recently, Castelli and Trost () and Beston et al () estimated survival for resident geese in New Jersey (USA), whereas Balkcom () and Iverson et al () examined survival of resident geese in Georgia (USA) and Ontario (Canada), respectively. These studies have provided insight into the effects of marking techniques and of urban versus rural landscapes on resident Canada goose survival, but their limited geographic scopes preclude broader application to other areas within the Atlantic Flyway.…”