Repellency of methyl anthranilate to pre-exposed and naive Canada geese

To improve our understanding of the effectiveness of avian feeding repellents, we evaluated whether Canada geese (Branta canadensis) exhibited learned avoidance of ReJeX-iT AG-36 (AG-36), a methyl anthranilate (MA) formulation containing 14.5% MA (vol/vol). During 2 experiments in August-September 1995, we pre-exposed geese orally to 0.0, 1.3, or 4.0 g AG-36 and released them onto 10- x 10-m grass plots treated with AG-36 at rates of 22.6 and 67.8 kg/ha. Mean numbers of bill contacts and mean numbers of geese observed on control and treated plots were similar (P greater than or equal to 0.21) for geese pre-exposed or naive to AG-36. Overall, mean numbers of bill contacts and mean numbers of geese also were similar (P greater than or equal to 0.56) on control and treated plots. Mean mass of droppings on control and treated plots was similar (P > 0.99) during the experiment with 22.6 kg/ha AG-36 but was greater (P = 0.01) on control plots during the experiment with 67.8 kg/ha AG-36. We conclude that learned avoidance of AG-36 by Canada geese preexposed orally to 1.3 or 4.6 g AG-36 did not occur and that AG-36 applied to turf in enclosures at rates of 22.6 and 67.8 kg/ha was not effective as a grazing repellent for geese.