A Forest Lakes resident, angered by the culling of Canada geese to prevent plane crashes: “It’s just so redneck.” Um. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
Ignorant and a bigot. She’s got it all!
Oh, they cull them in NJ, too. And they hold vigils.
Oh, dear god.
I am going out to find a goose and give it hug! Then roast the sucker and eat it with cherry sauce…
I’m personally willing to see a lot of dead geese if it means even a 1% safety improvement for the airport, but all of this culling seems a reactive policy – like taking shoes off at the airport. The geese that took the plane down into the Hudson turned out to the migratory, not resident, so all of the culling in the world would not have prevented that.
What needs to happen is that standards for engines need to be improved to withstand hits from larger birds. If killing birds is considered solving anything, it may end of hurting prolonging the necessary safety provisions.
As a Forest Lakes resident myself, it sure is nice to be able to use the walking/biking paths around all the lakes and not have to do a two-step to avoid all the goose droppings.
The redneck quote is pretty bizarre. One of the comments talks about geese being “Virginia wildlife”…perhaps they’ve been here so long that they are no longer from Canada?
Back where I grew up (northern NJ), geese were definitely seen as a nuisance. They drove all the mallards out of the town’s duck pond, made a mess of the little stream that ran through town (I can still picture the green rocks), and caused quite a bit of damage to sports fields. Ick. I love animals, but if they are deemed to be overpopulating an area, I understand that something has to be done.
We’ve always had these geese around, growing up in the county. Now, there’s a herd of them that hang out in my subdivision – they’re loud, always in the way of traffic, aggressively chase residents for food, and poop everywhere. I absolutely hated them until I read this article; now I feel bad for knowing that they’re the only survivors of this goose holocaust (Godwin’s Law, I know). I guess I’ll be nicer to them, knowing their time is limited.
I found the comments after the DP article interesting. “I love animals unless they become a nuisance. Then I want them dead”
Has anyone seen these geese near the airport? Do they reside here year-round? Why don’t they put screens in front of the plane engines to prevent the birds from being sucked in? Are Canadian geese the only birds that get sucked into a plane? Is the government worker just looking for something to do in order to get a pay check?
Screens don’t work—physics prohibits it. That’s beside the point—it’s up to the FAA to approve methods of preventing bird strikes. CHO’s job is only to minimize those strikes. Strikes occur with other birds, but there’s little damage to jet engines when a sparrow passes through an engine. A Canada goose, on the other hand, destroys a jet engine, by virtue of its size. (Turkey vultures have the same effect.) The birds that cause the most accidents are turkey vultures, Canada geese, and pelicans, in that order. Note, too, that Canada geese aren’t supposed to remain here in the summer—this far south, they’re only supposed to winter here, but in recent years they’ve become year-round residents. Given the large population of Canada geese here, Forest Lakes’ proximity to the airport, and the $600M in damage that bird strikes cause annually, culling geese seems like a pretty sensible idea.
FYI, Canada geese are invasive wildlife in this part of Virginia. What we have here are the descendants of captive, semi-domesticated geese that were used as live decoys until the early 20th century. Use of live decoys was banned and the birds were quickly released into the wild, sometimes hundreds of miles away from the traditional Canada goose range. That is why the don’t migrate. They have no traditional flyway.
There are a lot of resident mallards around for the same reason.
Anyone who hates rednecks has come to the wrong place. Canada geese taste lovely and the fat can be used to improve all manner of other dishes. I would be very happy to relieve anyone in the area of their problematic resident geese this September.
Thanks, Waldo, for the link. “So, the only practical solutions are relatively primitive: scaring birds from runway approaches and plotting flight paths that avoid heavy migration routes.” One of the commenters at the DP link provided this link: http://www.birdbusters.com/bird_control_airports.html. It deals with scaring the birds away. According to Jack’s comment immediately above,
Assuming this information is correct and the device works, would that be sufficient to clear up the problem of the Cville geese? According to that article that you linked to, will we have to kill off more and more bird, like starlings in the future as we employ more jet travel and build more airports in the future? Also, I believe the DP article stated that the government official heading up the culling is an employee of the USDA, not the FAA.
Wow – I live up in Hollymead and have noticed that there have been very few geese around this year. I did hear a story very recently about a neighbor that ate one for dinner. Seems like a better way to get rid of them if it is actually necessary.
Well then I’m guessing the bad guys also nailed the geese that migrated to the area behind the Main Post Office on 29N.
Pepsi Place… has a field that the Hot air balloon companies like to use for a take off spot. There is a Pond near one of the 2 old folks homes at the corner of Greenbriar and Hillsdale (also near the Senior center).
Each year I’ve gotten to watch the Geese arrive, raise their young and disappear during the winter months only to return during the spring.
It was only recently that I noticed I hadn’t seen any of them around.
Now I guess I know what happened to them.
I’m a Cville native. With plenty of redneck uncles, cousins, etc,… All of whom hunt.
I fail to see how Geese that pretty much lived only within the intersections of Greenbriar and Pepsi place, and Greenbriar and Hillsdale would be a danger to the airlines.
I don’t really give a damn about the airport. The flights “originating from” and “terminating at” are overpriced.
And I don’t think there has been a demonstrated need for the actions the county has taken.
I would also like anyone that has complained about the Goose Poop… to explain to be the distinguishing qualities of Goose Poop over the average Bird Poop, and how they are able to tell the difference between Goose Poop and any other type of Avian Poop.
Seriously? Goose poop is awful. For starters, it’s huge. Most of us will never encounter a larger bird-turd. And like duck feces, it’s wet. Compare with, for example, chicken droppings, which are dry. There’s just no mistaking it for anything else that you’d encounter in this area. For size alone, only vultures come close. I’ve never seen vulture poop, but I speculate that it must be just wretched stuff.
Absolutely right! The geese reproduce in large numbers and their offspring mature quickly. Their crap is sticky and, as Waldo pointed out large (typically four to six inches long and about a half inch in diameter).
Since this bird is very adaptable and reproduces quickly, it makes me wonder why it is not being used more extensively as a food source. The chief objection that I hear is that goose is a greasy form of poultry, even more than duck.
Does anyone have a good recipe or process that will make these geese more palatable as a food?
For those who whine about efforts made to control pest animals, I hope that you will try to think this issue through more thoroughly. I used to wonder if deer hunting was necessary, then, one night on the way home a deer leapt in front of my car and caused $1200 in damage and nearly caused me to have a fatal collision with an on-coming car. After that, I began to see deer as a potential hazard to my family, and not the Bambi of the Disney-flicks.
These geese are a hazard to aviation and when their population is more than four or five, they can litter a very large amount of our parks and playgrounds with their large, gooey, stench.
Had a dog once that LOVED the taste of goose poop. Loved it! He was a border collie, very smart–and a singularly picky eater. This dog didn’t eat anything that tasted nasty, even if it was camouflaged with peanut butter. So I’ve always wondered about the taste of goose poop. (Probably always will.)
There’s only one way to find out.
Thanks for the clarifications. I’ve never seen Goose Poop before. But most all of the bird poop I’ve encountered is wet and annoying regardless of where it is found. I’ve Seen plenty of bat poop (looks a lot like mouse poo). And what I can only guess was an Opossum turd, due to it’s size and the unusual location thereof (on a porch railing).
@Karl- you should try rabbit poo with your border collie, haven’t known a dog that could pass it up. As a kid I had a couple of beagles, then got a rabbit. Had to put a fence around the base of the hutch to keep the dogs from eating the poo on the ground below the hutch.
Who knew just how interesting and funny this post would become.
A person to whom I am very close, but will not name, was hit with an aerial deposit of goose poop a few years ago. It was not pretty. She was not happy. Ain’t nobody gonna confuse goose poop with pigeon poop.
Like with deer, too many resident Canada Geese can create problems. And all too often its human actions that cause these problems. We provide ponds like at many developments and so we get geese. Deer move into suburbia, plenty of edibles, no predators, no hunting, and soon we have deer/car collisions.
Since human acts have created this situation, its up to humans to manage this wildlife responsibly.
Relocation of abundant species does not work, often the relocation spot is already up to what biologists call carrying capacity.
If some geese are killed humanely and the meat used I have no problem with it. Likewise deer.
People who like seeing wildlife and yet knock hunters should realize that it is hunters license fees and taxes on arms and ammunition that have brought many species like deer, black bears, and wild turkeys back from scarcity.
There is a deeper issue.That is human growth and loss of habitat. As every piece of woodland or field falls to development, where are these fellow life forms to go?
I recently read somewhere that the way to control geese is to destroy the nests/eggs.
I hope they are getting rid of the geese which I have seen by the entrance road to the airport- they are not cute to behold when you drop a family member off to catch a plane!
in my personal experience: geese are, on the whole, total bastards. they may not be as mean as swans (which are thankfully more rare), but they are definitely a bunch of nasty fuckers, especially in comparison with their gentle and kindhearted duck brethren.