Anyone who has visited Vancouver parks is probably familiar with the calling card of the Canada goose.

Its feces litter the grass on playing fields, in mowed meadows, and wherever human visitors feed them.

The fouling fowl's poop also covers benches and walkways, pollutes outdoor swimming pools, and the geese themselves eat new grass in seeded areas.

Now city officials are asking for the help of observant Vancouverites to reduce the number of web-footed waste dispensers.

English Bay, Sunset Beach, Stanley Park, Trout Lake, False Creek, and VanDusen Botanical Garden are cited by the Vancouver park board as some of the more popular and most-fouled public gathering areas.

Because of its inefficient digestive system, a Canada goose can defecate every 12 minutes and deposit more than a kilogram of feces every day.

The board, after trying to curb the numbers of these flying fertilizer factories for years, is asking for the public's assistance in locating their nests.

A March 3 park board release announced the creation of a web page where residents can report the locations of Canada goose nests on private or public property. An interactive map allows visitors to pinpoint locations and provide details so park staff can verify the information.

Canada geese will often construct nests on building roofs and on balconies, as well as in treetops.

Park board wildlife specialists, with the proper permits from Environment Canada, will then conduct "addling" procedures on the eggs to ensure they become nonviable. This can consist of oiling the shells or shaking the eggs to terminate embryo formation. The treated eggs are not removed, so the geese do not lay another clutch. Some nests may be removed or destroyed.

The park board noted in its release that these methods of population control are approved by both the BC SPCA and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Although addling has been used as a method to limit Canada goose population growth in Vancouver parks for almost 30 years, it has not been sufficiently effective to put a real dent in their numbers, which are estimated now to be about 3,500 in Vancouver. That's 3,500 kilograms of feces deposited in parks and on private property every day.

“Feeding by humans occurs regularly and contributes to the geese congregating in high-traffic areas and popular parks near this food source,” environmental stewardship coordinator Dana McDonald noted in the park board release..

“Supplemental feeding by humans can also contribute to geese being able to lay more than one clutch of eight eggs per season; meaning that if one clutch does not hatch, they can replace it. In nature, without food from humans, this wouldn’t happen.”

The park board release said that wildlife experts estimate that triple the number of addled eggs needs to occur before any significant damper can be put on local Canada goose populations.

Residents who would rather use email to contact staff can report nests to geese@vancouver.ca.