Waterfowl hunters in northeastern Ohio can expect a good finish to this year's goose season. By December, the giant Canada geese that make Ohio their home -- as well as the James Bay birds that pass through looking for warmer climates -- will be packed into the remaining lakes and rivers in the region.

Duck Unlimited biologists forecast a good season because of great early spring conditions and a strong breeding success among the Mississippi Valley goose population. The estimated 2006 breeding population of 384,353 birds was the highest recorded since 1999 and was 6 percent above 1999-06 densities.

Dan Kramer, with the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Wildlife District Three office, said that part of the reason that northeastern Ohio looks so good to geese is because the area is blessed with a lot of water resources.

"There are a lot of natural lakes in this part of the state, along with impounded streams and flood control reservoirs," said Kramer. "The birds seem to favor manmade lakes and reservoirs of considerable size, anything from 60 to 70 acres on up to a few thousand acres on some of these reservoirs.

"Each of these reservoirs has resident goose flocks on them," he added. "The birds roost on the water and feed in the adjacent croplands throughout the day. The agricultural fields they seek contain primarily corn."

Kramer noted that Ohio essentially has two populations of geese.

"The giant Canada geese are our resident birds. They migrate very little. They do move around in winter, depending on available resources, maybe traveling a few hundred miles at a time, or they may not move at all. It all depends on the severity of the winter and the availability of the resources."

Northeastern Ohio provides prime wintering habitat and stopping points for migrating southbound Canada geese. These birds are visitors from the Mississippi Flyway and the interior of Canada, specifically from the Southern James Bay area and Hudson Bay.

Heather Braun, a Ducks Unlimited biologist, said that Ohio has a large population of giant Canadas that stay in residential areas. During breeding periods, they are a problem because they nest on golf courses and lawns.

Ohio has an early goose season to try to harvest many of those birds. Hunters do take a fair number during the early season, but the later goose season overlaps with the migration of the James Bay subspecies of Canada geese.

Hunters would like to kill more of the resident "nuisance" birds. But because it's difficult to differentiate between the two species, the daily bag limit in many states may be five or six resident birds; whereas in Ohio the limit is three migrant birds during that season overlap.

"We have an early-September season," said biologist Kramer, "which is the time to harvest our resident birds. We have another season running from mid-October to about Thanksgiving. A third season of a week or 10 days is held around the end of December."

Hunters should check for the exact dates for the 2006 season.