If you’ve spent any amount of time in Barrie, Ontario strolling the waterfront or simply driving around, I’m sure you’ve noticed our Canada geese.  While I generally love anything to do with nature, there are times when the geese pose some problems.  From stopping traffic while they move their children from one side of the road to the other, to leaving their mark on the walking trails, it can be easy to wish they would move to another home!  And are people really supposed to feed them bread?

I picked up the Summer 2106 edition of Lake Simcoe Living and was happy to read Andrew Hind’s article about ‘How to co-exist with Canada geese’.  Hind gives the reader an overview of the annual habits of our geese, but also outlines what they eat and why they like our waterfront and parks. 

First of all, geese don’t eat bread!!   They actually eat flowers, leaves, stems, roots, berries etc.  Later in the story Hind tells us that ‘Most nest sites are located near water…’ and ‘From the moment they leave the nest, goslings feed on the tender shoots of young, short grass. Parks and golf courses become tempting locations for geese to rear their brood.’  That explains why the geese congregate in the areas that we see, and that’s why the City of Barrie has to spend so much time and money cleaning up our waterfront so that we can enjoy it!  The shorter the grass, the more the geese will come.  And of course, they like to return to the same home year after year.

I still enjoy watching them and love to see the little goslings in the Spring.  It’s nice that residents are so patient when it comes to geese crossing major roads.  Perhaps we should be happy that we still have enough green space within our city limits to still attract the geese year after year!

We always enjoy getting your feedback.  You can reach John Weber at John@JohnWeberTeam.com or by cell at 705-727-6111.  You can reach Christie Bond at Christie@JohnWeberTeam.com or by cell at 705-220-1152.