Goose droppings and construction leave riverfront visitors scratching their heads and scraping their shoes

Canada Geese roaming the riverfront and using parks and playgrounds as a personal bathroom, combined with construction that's broken up a large chunk of the walkway, have caused one of Windsor's gems to lose a bit of its shine this summer.

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Cyclists, walkers and tourists are still flocking to the paths along the water, but many are discovering kilometres of droppings and irritable birds blocking their access to activities.

"I think it's absolutely disgusting. I think it definitely affects the city," said Lisa Keating. "Especially if people come from another town and then they come to the park with their family and they see how disgusting it looks. And then they're like 'Well if this is one park what do the other parks look like?'"

Seema Singh was visiting Windsor this week and said one of the highlights was the pirate ship play structure by the river. The Toronto woman said her kids loved clambering over it, but rather than dodging imaginary buccaneers they were left slipping on goose waste.

"We're not accustomed to seeing so much birds and poops everywhere," she explained.

Jan Wilson, executive director of recreation and culture with the city, said crews are out every day trying to keep up with the goose droppings, but it sometimes feels like a losing battle.

"We do clean our high traffic areas as much as possible, but as soon as you clean an area very shortly thereafter you're going to have some more," she said. "We do our best to keep up with it but there's very little to do that you can do to prevent it completely."

Where's the giant flag?

Another letdown for some along the river is the absence of the giant Canadian flag that was only recently unfurled. While the massive red and white banner was a huge hit, it has been taken down temporarily for some electrical and cement work — city staff plan to have it flying again Tuesday.

One thing Wilson said will end soon enough is the construction to walkways along the water. The condition of some of the sidewalks was bad they needed to be torn up this summer, but should be repaired by the fall.