Honk If You Love Geese: Efforts Feather the Nests of Two Species

SEATTLE —  This holiday announcement Wednesday from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “More Geese on Earth.”

Two species of geese that winter in California and the Northwest have rebounded from near catastrophic population declines a decade ago.

The Fish and Wildlife Service reported that cackling Canada geese and Pacific white-fronted geese, both of which breed in southwest Alaska, “have staged a dramatic comeback,” according to autumn nesting surveys.

“This could be Alaska’s best wildlife news this year,” said Walter O. Stieglitz, Alaska regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Survey.

The cackling Canada goose, distinguished by its small duck-like size, had been headed for the endangered species list in the early 1980s. Their population dropped from more than 300,000 to only 25,800. But federal biologists said that their numbers have now ballooned 600% to 164,300 in 1993.

The much larger white-fronted goose has a speckled breast and white band behind its bill. Its numbers declined from 500,000 to an all-time low of 93,900 in 1985. They have now rebounded to 275,100.

Stieglitz said that the population levels of the two geese are such that hunting restrictions may be lifted along the Pacific Flyway between Alaska and California.