The group's campaign began quietly enough last spring. What set it off was a small triangular patch of land just past the Boston University bridge, where the geese nest for a couple of months each spring. Advocates for the birds call it the "goose meadow."

Until last fall, the meadow was fenced in and allowed to grow wild. But last October, the MDC filled the area with soil. The agency seeded grass and paved a path through the field so riverside strollers can walk nearer to the Charles. Wellons says that made nesting dangerous and stressful for the geese.

Last March, when the geese were nesting, the group began distributing leaflets to passers-by near the goose meadow and held signs reading, "Goodbye, Mother Goose?" They urged motorists to honk to show support for the honkers waddling around down on the river.

Eight months later, the group is still at it.

"The geese have been tremendously popular. They have fans all over the metropolitan area," Wellons says.

The geese survived the nesting season last year even, with the changes to the goose meadow. Since that time, 11 goslings have hatched and 10 geese have left to form a new gaggle. But Cambridge lawyer Robert J. La Tremouille, another member of the group, says he could tell the experience was troublesome for the birds.

"The first time I really saw the geese look happy was when the nesting season was over, when they were back at Magazine Beach," he says. "They looked as happy as a bunch of geese in water."