By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
A whole flock of new residents arrived on Monday afternoon, June 20, at the Overton Wildlife Management Area (OWMA) south of Overton. A group of 134 geese brought in an NDOW stock trailer from the Reno area were released at the local Management Area under the watchful eye of Supervisor Tim Woods and a handful of volunteers.
This time of year, the arrival of too many migratory geese start to become a nuisance in the Reno area, Wood said. “They are a huge problem up there,” he said. “They crowd into ponds in public parks and contaminate the water and make a mess. They become a hazard at the airports up there.”
So every year or two, NDOW relocates a number of geese to areas further south.
Most of the geese chosen for relocation are very young. The majority are only 3-4 months old, Wood said. That is because they haven’t yet developed the feathers needed to fly distances.
“We don’t want them to just fly off and return back there right away,” Wood said. “These birds will stay nearly a year, until the next migratory season.”
Thus, 110 of the 134 birds arriving last week were juvenile birds. The other 24 were adult geese. Wood said that these mature birds are mixed with the relocated flock to train the younger ones.
“We’ve found that to be a ratio that works well,” Wood said. “If you bring too many adults at once they just take off right away. But with this ratio the older birds show the younger ones the way and train them.”
While here, the birds will be cared for and fed by the OWMA staff as well as a small force of volunteers. The birds will be fed through much of the summer until they are able to fly and fend for themselves, Wood said.
Then they usually leave the Area in late February or March, he said.
