Canada geese are the strike risk aviation takes most seriously, and much of what draws them sits outside the fence. Tri-State Geese Patrol works the grass, ponds and campuses around airfields across Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. Call (203) 856-4889.
Where we work
Land around airfields, and general aviation fields that invite us in
Airside
Only if the airport badges and authorizes us
FAA attractant range
5,000 ft, 10,000 ft, and 5 statute miles
Peak strike season
July through October
We do not hold an airside authorization at any airport. Working on an aircraft movement area is controlled by the airport, not by a contractor: under 14 CFR 139.337 the duty to alleviate a detected wildlife hazard sits with the certificate holder, the Wildlife Hazard Management Plan has to be approved by the FAA and names who is responsible for each part of it, and access to the airfield runs through badging, a Security Threat Assessment and airfield driver training before anyone drives a vehicle near a runway.
So if you operate a Part 139 airport and you want a dog on the airfield, the honest sequence is that your operations and security teams onboard us into your existing plan, with the tower coordination and badging that implies. We can do that work. We cannot claim to already be approved for it, and any provider telling you otherwise is describing a permission only you can grant.
Where we are immediately useful is everything else, and for a lot of airfields that is the larger part of the problem.
FAA's guidance on hazardous wildlife attractants near public-use airports works in separation distances: 5,000 feet for airports serving piston aircraft, 10,000 feet for turbine aircraft, and 5 statute miles where an attractant could pull hazardous wildlife across an approach or departure path. That last figure is the one worth sitting with. A five mile radius around a runway takes in corporate campuses, retention basins, golf courses, playing fields, municipal parks, reservoirs and farm ground, and almost none of it belongs to the airport.
Connecticut DEEP names the combination directly when it describes Canada goose habitat: ponds, lakes, marshes, reservoirs, rivers, lawns, parks, athletic fields, airports and agricultural fields, providing water, cover and grazing together. A goose does not distinguish between a corporate pond and airport grass; it flies between them, and the flight line is what crosses your approach.
The regional record shows how tangled that can get. New York City's Department of Environmental Protection runs a waterfowl management program at Kensico Reservoir, immediately west of Westchester County Airport, and its 2025 report describes participating in the annual review of the airport's Wildlife Hazard Management Plan because waterbird activity in the eastern basin poses an aircraft risk. Reservoir water, airport safety and two separate owners, on one problem.
The FAA's national wildlife strike report for 1990 through 2025 records 2,301 Canada geese struck by civil aircraft, including 76 in 2025, and an average of 71 strikes a year across 2016 to 2025. Mean strike height was 771 feet above ground level across 1,805 events, and in 65 percent of Canada goose strike events more than one bird was seen or struck. That last number is the whole argument for treating a flock rather than a bird.
Severity is where waterfowl separate from other species. FAA reports that in 2023, ducks and geese together made up 4 percent of strikes but 27 percent of the strikes that damaged an aircraft. A recent example from the same report: on 1 March 2025 a Boeing 767 departing Newark struck a flock of Canada geese at 750 feet, ingested birds in both engines, had an engine fire, returned for an emergency landing, and was out of service 17 days with 7 million dollars of repairs. Newark is outside our service area and we cite it as what the bird is capable of, not as a local event.
Timing matters too. FAA reports roughly 54 percent of bird strikes happen July through October, as young birds fledge and autumn migration begins, and that 61 percent of fixed-wing strikes occur in the landing phases with 36 percent in takeoff and climb.
Which one applies depends on whose ground the birds are using.
A corporate campus, business park, school, golf course or municipal field inside the FAA separation distances. You are the landowner, you engage us directly, and no aviation authorization is involved. Reducing what your ground offers is the single most useful thing a neighbor can do.
A smaller airfield without Part 139 obligations still controls its own access. If your management wants dogs working the grass, we agree the access rules, the coordination and the hours with you before anything starts.
Possible, and it is your process, not ours. Badging, Security Threat Assessment, airfield driver training, tower coordination and a place in the approved plan. Expect insurance requirements in the same range as your other airfield contractors.
Anything requiring regulated take, nest or egg action under the airport control order, or a Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologist's assessment. USDA APHIS Wildlife Services does airport wildlife work at an airport's request, and that is the correct route for it.
Dog-based abatement changes where birds choose to be. It does not substitute for your statutory duties, your assessment, or the FAA-approved plan those obligations produce. Part 139 is explicit that the certificate holder must take immediate action when a hazard is detected, that inspections happen before air carrier operations, and that wildlife personnel communicate effectively with the tower. A contractor is one control measure inside that system, never a replacement for it.
On the surrounding land the honest framing is different but equally bounded. Moving a flock off your campus pond reduces what that pond contributes to the local bird population and to the flight lines across it. It does not clear the airspace, and nobody can promise you that it will. New York DEC says plainly that no single technique is universally effective and that persistent use of combined methods gives the best results, which on land near an airfield usually means hazing alongside changing what the ground offers.
There is one thing this species does that makes the work worth repeating. Geese are creatures of site fidelity. A flock that has used the same water for several seasons has to be taught, over and over, that the place is no longer comfortable, and a single clearance teaches them nothing at all.
Connecticut DEEP reports resident geese defending territory in March and nesting by early April, with hatching from April through June and a peak in the first week of May. Migrants arrive in early October, continue through November, and a second peak lands in mid-December. Massachusetts describes the same pattern: resident birds all year, migratory birds passing through spring and autumn.
Lay that over the FAA's July to October strike peak and the busy months line up badly. The birds are most numerous and least predictable exactly when the strike data says the risk is highest, which is an argument for a program that runs continuously through the season rather than one mobilised after an incident.
Ours is no. Ask for the airport name and the badge category rather than accepting a general claim, because airside access is granted per airport and it is verifiable.
Not for non-injurious herding on ordinary land. New York DEC states no federal or state permit is needed to scare, herd or chase geese, including with dogs, so long as no bird is harmed. Airside access is a separate question and is about security and operations, not wildlife law.
No. The federal airport control order and the resident goose nest and egg order run through registered eligible parties with reporting obligations, and we hold no such registration. USDA APHIS Wildlife Services is the established route.
Very likely yes, and it is the most common version of this call. If you are inside roughly five miles of an approach path and you have mown grass beside water, your ground is part of the problem the airport is trying to manage.
Tell us what your contract requires. Airport-adjacent public work in this region has asked for workers' compensation, employer's liability, vehicle liability and additional-insured endorsement, and one regional airport RFP specified a 5 million dollar umbrella. We will meet the requirement or tell you we cannot.
On private land beside an airfield, quickly. Airside, only as fast as your badging and training process allows, which is measured in weeks rather than days at most airports.
Call Tri-State Geese Patrol on (203) 856-4889 and tell us where the property sits relative to the runway, where the water is, and whether you are the airport or a neighbor. If the honest answer is that you need USDA or a Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologist rather than us, you will hear that on the first call.
Call Tri-State Geese Patrol on (203) 856-4889 and we will talk through the site, the flock and what a program would look like.
