Urban Goose Reproductive Decisions Are Not Impacted By Their Population Densities

One of the most maligned urban birds in the U.S. is the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), which can be found at unnaturally high densities in the grassy fields of parks, golf courses, office complexes, and even the medians of highways. Among other species, such tight aggregations can have a significant impact on reproductive activities--for instance, by increasing rates of nest parasitism and cuckoldry.  However, despite the fact that urban geese often nest much closer together than their rural counterparts, and are noticeably more tolerant of the proximity of conspecifics, their breeding efforts do not appear to be significantly impacted by the high densities in which the birds occur in anthropogenic areas. read more

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