For residents near the Herb Gray Parkway construction site, those are not gunshots you’re hearing, but bird bangers being deployed daily to chase away Canada Geese.
The aim is to frighten away geese within the parkway work site before they settle in this spring for a nesting spot, lay eggs, then terrorize anyone who comes within a stone’s throw of their new family home.
“In this situation, where the birds are making babies is unsafe,” said Karen Cedar, a naturalist at the Ojibway Nature Centre. “The more proactive you are the better. Relocating any nest or eggs requires an intensive effort. Getting the birds right now to pick a new spot is a better way to go.”
The bird bangers are being fired off in the early morning and late evening hours with the program expected to continue the next four months, parkway officials say.
The bangers are hand-held devices about the size a large pen, said Cindy Prince, spokeswoman for the parkway’s contractor. A firing pin launches the banger which is aimed about 10 to 15 metres off the ground and issues a sound of a firecracker or whistling firework.
In Regina, a Canada Goose established a nest at the top of a gravel pit on May 21, 2010. The pit, which was operated by the department of highways, became off-limits until the eggs hatched or the nest was moved. (Postmedia News files)
There is no chance geese or people can be injured by the bangers as the program is being overseen by professionals from the parkway’s environmental team, she said.
The goal is deter the geese “from feeding, congregating or nesting” in the construction zone, Prince said. The bangers are used in tandem with visual deterrents such as kites or reflective tape.
The devices are being used throughout the 11-kilometre parkway work corridor, but primary locations include near the new Howard Avenue roundabout, south of Villa Paradiso subdivision near Academie Ste. Cecile, a new pond west of Matchette Road at E.C. Row Expressway and new Lennon fish compensation pond between Todd Lane and Huron Church Road.
This is the peak time of year when all birds establish their breeding grounds, Cedar said. For geese, that’s often perilous as they most often lay eggs on the ground.
“Geese are big and very defensive about their breeding grounds,” Cedar said. “For good reason as their eggs are predatory targets for foxes, coyotes, cats or dogs. They get very aggressive to prevent their eggs from being destroyed. Geese defending their nest don’t differentiate a fox from a car. They will try to drive off anything that approaches.
“Building a nest where construction is occurring is a stress not just for the geese, but people working around them. They will fly, run at you or try to bite.”
Geese are also determined creatures of habit and want to lay eggs in the same location they were successful in previous years. It makes little difference if the landscape has completely changed – such as the parkway construction site – since they often use the sky and stars to identify location, Cedar said.
“If it worked well for them once, they will really want to go there again,” she said. “The house may not look as great, but the neighbourhood is still something really attractive to them.”
Aside from nesting, another major concern why bangers are being deployed relates to a special landscaping seed mix placed down this spring, Prince said.
“The seed mixes being used for this landscaping are difficult to obtain, expensive and need time to establish to create the desired tallgrass prairie landscape,” she said.
There is also a risk for the geese and goslings with heavy equipment being used during construction.
LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya said parkway officials made a presentation to town council a few weeks ago regarding the bangers.
There are concerns if their use is disturbing enough to nearby homeowners they may generate complaints, he said.
“We have no problem with it as long as they are not disturbing a neighbourhood,” Antaya said. “If we hear complaints it will be treated like anything else. There is the noise bylaw and they have to comply. So far we haven’t heard anything from (residents).”
Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre deals with hundreds of calls related to ducks or geese each year, said Nancy Phillips, president of the animal rehabilitation centre.
She was recently called to the parkway site where they erected a fence around a nesting site which was a large pile of rocks being used for construction.
“There are concerns when you have heavy equipment and people working around them,” she said. “Then there are legalities in moving the nest. It’s a real tough situation when you have the parkway taking up so much space and so many (geese) are being displaced. Snakes and deer are being displaced.”
Residents with concerns about the bangers should call Windsor-Essex Mobility Group public liaison office at 1-877-937-5929.
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