Wild goose chase: Geese flee high and far, and with aftereffects from New Year's fireworks

In the present Anthropocene, wild animals are globally affected by human activity. Consumer fireworks during New Year (NY) are widely distributed in W-Europe and cause strong disturbances that are known to incur stress responses in animals. We analyzed GPS tracks of 347 wild migratory geese of four species during eight NYs quantifying the effects of fireworks on individuals. We show that, in parallel with particulate matter increases, during the night of NY geese flew on average 5–16 km further and 40–150 m higher, and more often shifted to new roost sites than on previous nights. This was also true during the 2020–2021 fireworks ban, despite fireworks activity being reduced. Likely to compensate for extra flight costs, most geese moved less and increased their feeding activity in the following days. Our findings indicate negative effects of NY fireworks on wild birds beyond the previously demonstrated immediate response.

Seasonal space use and habitat selection in magpie geese: implications for reducing human‐wildlife conflicts

Negative interactions between waterbirds and people are increasing. Waterbirds feeding on agricultural crops cause significant losses to farmers worldwide, but so far most research to address these conflicts has been conducted on migratory species in the temperate northern hemisphere. We investigated the space use and habitat selection of the magpie goose (Anseranas semipalmata), a taxonomically distinct waterbird endemic to Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. In tropical northern Australia, magpie geese are protected but are increasingly persecuted by farmers to protect crops during the late dry–early wet season (~Sep–Jan), a bottleneck of natural resources for waterbirds in the monsoonal tropics. Using satellite telemetry of 38 geese spread across 3 seasons (2016–2017, 2017–2018, 2018–2019), we evaluated daily and seasonal space use, individual site fidelity, and habitat selection to determine the extent of use of agricultural fields by geese, and the spatiotemporal scales at which management should be undertaken. Geese used relatively small daily areas (x̄ = 8.2 km2) consistently throughout the late dry–early wet season, and repeatedly used agricultural fields, forested bushlands, and local wetlands. Geese used comparatively large seasonal areas (x̄ = 219.5 km2) encompassing several agricultural areas, and had a low mean overlap between successive weekly core activity areas, indicating that site fidelity rapidly weakened over time. These results suggest that farm‐scale (<30 ha) management of geese is unlikely to be effective because hazed individuals are likely to be replaced soon afterwards. Instead, our findings suggest that goose management should be coordinated strategically at the local (~1,000 ha), or regional (~100,000 ha) scale. Farm‐level management would likely be more effective if implemented in conjunction with the creation of regional sanctuaries where geese could rest and potentially feed undisturbed away from farms. Our findings can be used by wildlife managers for optimizing the location of such sanctuaries and highlight the necessity for management to be adaptive given the opportunistic nature of the species. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Wildlife Management is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

COVID19-induced reduction in human disturbance enhances fattening of an overabundant goose species.

Overabundant species can have major impacts on their habitat and induce trophic cascades within ecosystems. In North America, the overabundant greater snow goose (Anser caerulescens atlanticus) has been successfully controlled through special spring hunting regulations since 1999. Hunting is a source of mortality but also of disturbance, which affects the behavior and nutrient storage dynamics of staging snow geese. In 2020, the lockdown imposed by the COVID19 pandemic reduced hunting activity during their migratory stopover in Québec by at least 31%. This provided a unique opportunity to assess the effects of a sudden reduction in hunting disturbance on geese. We used long-term data on body mass combined with movement data from GPS-tracked birds in 2019 and 2020 to assess the effects of the 2020 lockdown on the spring body condition and behavior of greater snow geese. Body condition was higher in 2020 than in all years since the inception of spring hunting in 1999, except for 2019. However, in 2020 geese reached maximal body condition earlier during the staging period than in any other year and reduced by half time spent feeding in highly profitable but risky agricultural habitat in late spring compared to 2019. Although our study was not designed to evaluate the effects of the lockdown, the associated reduction in disturbance in 2020 supports the hypothesis that hunting-related disturbance negatively affects foraging efficiency and body condition in geese. Since spring body condition is related to subsequent breeding success, the lockdown could increase productivity in this overabundant population.