Translocation, survival, and recovery of Kansas-banded Canada geese

Abstract

Temperate-breeding, or resident, Canada geese were once extirpated in Kansas, USA, but currently provide abundant viewing and hunting opportunities. Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism (KDWPT) began reintroducing geese in 1980 with a goal of re-establishing a breeding population. Successful reintroductions led to translocating flocks to regions with no previous records of nesting geese; however, KDWPT continues to translocate individuals from nuisance flocks in urban areas to rural reservoirs to reduce human conflicts with urban geese. Our goal was to determine the effects of such translocations on survival and recovery of adult, sub-adult, and juvenile temperate-breeding Canada geese. We used Brownie dead-recovery models in Program MARK to compare survival and recovery probabilities between translocated and nontranslocated (normal wild) Kansas-banded Canada geese for 2012–2017. Model-estimated annual survival differed between status (normal wild (Formula presented.) = 0.761, 95% CI 0.734–0.785; translocated (Formula presented.) = 0.598, 95% CI 0.528–0.665). Recovery probability differed between normal and translocated adults (normal wild (Formula presented.) = 0.074, 95% CI = 0.069–0.078; translocated (Formula presented.) = 0.138, 95% CI = 0.120–0.158) and juveniles (normal wild (Formula presented.) = 0.067, 95% CI = 0.059–0.075; translocated (Formula presented.) = 0.250, 95% CI = 0.199–0.310). Recovery probability did not differ between status in the sub-adult age class (normal wild (Formula presented.) = 0.126, 95% CI = 0.115–0.137; translocated (Formula presented.) = 0.090, 95% CI = 0.055–0.144). Translocation is a viable management option to successfully reduce survival and increase recovery probability of urban nuisance geese in Kansas.