Ecology of wintering Canada geese in the greater Chicago metropolitan area
type: CreativeWork
description: Canada geese (Branta canadensis) breed in subarctic and temperate areas of North America, but both populations typically winter in temperate regions of the northern United States. During winter, Canada geese are increasingly using urban areas, but data are lacking on habitat use and selection, movements, potential thermal benefits of selected habitats, and survival of Canada geese during late autumn and winter in urban areas. I captured Canada geese during November‒February 2014‒2016 in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area (GCMA) in northeastern, Illinois, USA and fitted 41 geese with solar-powered GPS transmitters. Neck collar-mounted transmitters operated on the cellular phone network and collected hourly locations (n = 39,392). Canada geese selected green spaces (59.8%) in greater proportion than available (14%), but I also documented geese using novel habitats such as rooftops and rail yards (i.e., industrial urban; 11.3%). Habitat use shifted away from green spaces (36%) to industrial urban habitats (10.4%), riverine (12.8%), and deep-water habitats (37.8%) as temperatures decreased below the lower critical limit for Canada geese (i.e., temperature at which increased thermoregulatory costs are incurred to maintain core body temperature). During periods when temperature decreased and snow depth increased geese increasingly used industrial urban habitats. Both snow depth and minimum daily temperatures were associated with decreased movement distances within habitats. Movements by Canada geese within rail yard (x̅ = 224.0 m, SE = 13.0) and green space habitats (x̅ = 145.6 m, SE = 3.4) were the longest for any habitat type, while movements by geese in deep-water habitats (x̅ = 85.7 m, SE = 3) and rooftop habitats (x̅ = 52.9 m, SE = 5.5) were the shortest. When temperatures were below the lower critical temperature (-6 ⁰C) Canada geese transitioned from deep-water to green space habitat in greater proportion than all other possible transitions between habitat types…
abstract: Canada geese (Branta canadensis) breed in subarctic and temperate areas of North America, but both populations typically winter in temperate regions of the northern United States. During winter, Canada geese are increasingly using urban areas, but data are lacking on habitat use and selection, movements, potential thermal benefits of selected habitats, and survival of Canada geese during late autumn and winter in urban areas. I captured Canada geese during November‒February 2014‒2016 in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area (GCMA) in northeastern, Illinois, USA and fitted 41 geese with solar-powered GPS transmitters. Neck collar-mounted transmitters operated on the cellular phone network and collected hourly locations (n = 39,392). Canada geese selected green spaces (59.8%) in greater proportion than available (14%), but I also documented geese using novel habitats such as rooftops and rail yards (i.e., industrial urban; 11.3%). Habitat use shifted away from green spaces (36%) to industrial urban habitats (10.4%), riverine (12.8%), and deep-water habitats (37.8%) as temperatures decreased below the lower critical limit for Canada geese (i.e., temperature at which increased thermoregulatory costs are incurred to maintain core body temperature). During periods when temperature decreased and snow depth increased geese increasingly used industrial urban habitats. Both snow depth and minimum daily temperatures were associated with decreased movement distances within habitats. Movements by Canada geese within rail yard (x̅ = 224.0 m, SE = 13.0) and green space habitats (x̅ = 145.6 m, SE = 3.4) were the longest for any habitat type, while movements by geese in deep-water habitats (x̅ = 85.7 m, SE = 3) and rooftop habitats (x̅ = 52.9 m, SE = 5.5) were the shortest. When temperatures were below the lower critical temperature (-6 ⁰C) Canada geese transitioned from deep-water to green space habitat in greater proportion than all other possible transitions between habitat types…
author: Dorak, Brett Eugene
language: en
keywords: Canada geese, urban, habitat selection, survival, movements
date published: 2017-03-01T15:45:52Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:35Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95265