By AMY RICKER
Great Bend Post
The geese are back at Veterans Lake. Like in years past, the City of Great Bend will be shooting some bird bombs and noisemakers to scare the birds off.
Great Bend Director of Public Lands Scott Keeler says the geese are a mixture of local and migratory birds.
“The locals are staying pretty hot and heavy right around here. We have 25-30 local geese that are not scared of the noisemakers anymore. We are seeing a few more migratory birds coming in, and we will continue to try to run them off,” explained Keeler.
Keeler says they have had several conversations with Fish and Game to get more education about why the increase in birds continues to happen year after year.
“When it gets really cold to the north of us, and the water is all frozen over, that’s when we see the influx of the geese coming down. As the temperature fluctuates back and forth, they don’t necessarily fly south and stay south. They just fly north-south in repetition until they can’t find open water anymore.”
Keeler says other area lakes such as Stone Lake do not have this issue because the geese tend not to like banks with bushes and other various plants. Veterans Lake is a large enough body of water where they can stay away from the banks and feel secure.