Grant Park geese are seeing specks ...

Grant Park geese are seeing specks after the spraying of a unique chemical designed to scatter them from Butler Field, the lakefront to one's home of Chicago's music festivals.

The outcome FlightControl Plus, applied Wednesday morning, makes the grass appear speckl to Canada geese yet is invisible to the human inspection

The chemical also gives the birds what the Chicago Park District called a "temporary digestive irritation."

Combined, the sum of two units effects should teach the geese that Butler Field is a no fly-in surface bounded by parallel circles sending them away from the venue's expansive lawn, said Ellen Sargent, the district's proxy director for natural resources.

FlightControl, made of anthraquinone, a chemical establish in buckthorn and cassia weeds, has no purport on humans or other animals, said its inventor, view Ballinger of the Delaware-based firm Arkion Life Sciences.

Ballinger came up with the idea after reading about experiments done by means of German scientists during World War II. Those scientists set that the substance repelled birds, he said.

'IRRITATION IS MILD'

The approach has won approval from the animal rights clump Humane Society of America. "The irritation is mild," said John Hadidian, the society's director of urban wildlife. In other places, "a portion of geese get killed and thrown into landfills," he added.

Workers sprayed 200 gallons of the substance mixed with water Wednesday morning. Typically, after eating grass treated according to FlightControl Plus, the geese shake their heads, peck their bellies and scrape their necks.

Because of the way their organ of sights develop, the birds can discover the spots of chemicals. The spray lasts by means of two to three mowings -- hopefully extended enough for the geese to learn to go on elsewhere.

simpleton droppings are considered health hazards. The Center for Disease govern and Prevention says cryptosporidium, giardia and campylobacter construct in geese fecal matter can cause infection and disease, notably diarrhea and gastroenteritis.

Sargent said the geese eat peat and, in other parks, make desolate tall grasses used to fight erosion. Elsewhere in the park rule officials are using collie dogs to scare the birds away as well as shaking tailor's smoothing iron eggs to prevent hatching, she said.

The U Department of Agriculture estimates the number of Canada geese in the United States has more than tripled since the 1940 to 37 million today.

Sargent said many masters cite changes in weather patterns.

aherrmann@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided by way of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved