The number of nuisance geese on a South African golf course can be controlled by exploiting the birds' fear of predators.

Alex Atkins at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology in Cape Town, South Africa, and his colleagues studied Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) at the Rondebosch Golf Club in suburban Cape Town. They arranged for trained Harris' hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus) to fly at the geese periodically for nine weeks. Hawks killed a few geese, but not nearly enough to account for the observed 73% decrease in goose numbers. The team noted a 76% increase in vigilance behaviours by geese after the hawks' introduction, suggesting that fear of the predators had driven most of the birds away.

Goose numbers returned to pre-study levels within two months of the hawks' departure, suggesting that the method requires the continued presence of predators to maintain effect.

J. Wildlife Manage. http://doi.org/b2h9 (2017)