Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks

It is that time of year again when geese and ducks are looking for a place to nest.  Please be sure to differentiate between migrating species such as grebs, merganzers, buffleheads, and loons who are just stopping to rest for a few hours from the common Canada geese and mallard ducks that we need to discourage from nesting and establishing colonies.  Given that birds will return each year to their birthplace we could very quickly become overrun like Columbia Lake, Silver Lake, or even the University of Waterloo Campus.

With increasing geese numbers everywhere we are going to have to work extra hard to convince Canada geese and mallard ducks that this is not a nice place to raise a family to ensure the best possible water quality for the future.  Mallard ducks carry a parasite that causes swimmer’s ear and frequent ear infections in humans while Canada geese carry high levels of coliforms that can make swimmers or people who consume the water quite sick and cause permanent liver damage.

If you require firecrackers or want to use one of the Lake Association’s remote control boats to deter geese from your part of the lake please let me know.  Many thanks to Jim Hodgson for the tremendous supply of fire crackers for geese deterrence.

We all have to take responsibility for our own shoreline and lake area.  Leaving your shoreline as natural as possible with native grasses and plants will help to improve water run-off quality, discourage geese, as well as provide important frog and fish egg habitat.