A Canada Goose. I am not sure why it is so successful here, but they have remarkable numbers in our Maquoketa River and backwater. I am not a hunter or butcher, but .... this looks good enough to eat.

[ToddK]

Nice capture. This one is a very healthy-looking goose.

[Sailor]

Terrific shot! We even have these characters here in SE Texas. I've learned to treat 'em with respect. While photographing several of them a few years ago, a big one came after me, pecking at my shoes. That sucker chased me all the way back to the car. Got some great pics, though!

Jer

[35mmfilmfan]

They are prevalent in the UK as well. I got attacked by one once - pecked me on the leg so hard it left a dent. Fortunately, it was only the leg of my aluminium tripod, but I did see someone once try to impress his girlfriend by flapping his coat at one. The goose immediately pecked him, 'just below the belt !', and he curled up on the ground squealing and clutching himself. His girlfriend seemed somewhat under-impressed - she just stood there laughing hysterically.

Apropos of 'good enough to eat', from what I understand, Branta geese (or Black geese) are not considered palatable - Anser geese (or Grey geese) are the ones from which farmyard and edible geese are descended.






T

[C_Jones]

Nice shot. Nice detail.

[MikeNArk]

Beautiful shot of that Canadian Goose. That one does look healthy. We have a pair settled in a local nature preserve. I hope they are successful in raising some goslings.

[lesmore49]

Nice pix of the Canada Goose. Hard to believe that they were considered endangered back in the '60's. Their phenomenal return has to be one of nature's great success stories. What a rebound.

Although I don't think of it that way, when I go for a walk and almost step in some of their $#!!.

[mroeder75]

Terrific shot! We even have these characters here in SE Texas. I've learned to treat 'em with respect. While photographing several of them a few years ago, a big one came after me, pecking at my shoes. That sucker chased me all the way back to the car. Got some great pics, though!
Jer

We encountered a pair walking back and forth across the trail ahead of us. We stopped and gave them space. There were no goslings, yet. That is a funny story.

---------- Post added 03-23-23 at 12:09 AM ----------

They are prevalent in the UK as well. I got attacked by one once - pecked me on the leg so hard it left a dent. Fortunately, it was only the leg of my aluminium tripod, but I did see someone once try to impress his girlfriend by flapping his coat at one. The goose immediately pecked him, 'just below the belt !', and he curled up on the ground squealing and clutching himself. His girlfriend seemed somewhat under-impressed - she just stood there laughing hysterically.

Apropos of 'good enough to eat', from what I understand, Branta geese (or Black geese) are not considered palatable - Anser geese (or Grey geese) are the ones from which farmyard and edible geese are descended.
T

I just read an article about cooking a Canada goose. The meat can be tough, and it is possible to make a delicious meal from one but it is a rather involved process. And, your storied encounter, and your witnessed encounter, are, hilarious.

---------- Post added 03-23-23 at 12:11 AM ----------

Nice pix of the Canada Goose. Hard to believe that they were considered endangered back in the '60's. Their phenomenal return has to be one of nature's great success stories. What a rebound.

Although I don't think of it that way, when I go for a walk and almost step in some of their $#!!.

In the area of the trail where the waterpark is located, the city installed plastic dogs on stakes. At the apex of the stake is a spring. The plastic dogs blow in the wind, and they do keep the geese out.

[pichaser]

One such goose is beautiful as you ably show .

[angkymac]

Great catch of the guy (or gal)!
All details showing very well.
The anecdotes shared about the hostility of these geese are accurate! But there is a very funny way of countering them--act just like a "silly goose"!
When I had a part-time retirement job of mowing a golf course, those rascals got quite a bit of enjoyment out of threatening my mower. Growing up on a farm and watching them chase everything from cows to school busses, I learned a bit of their language. When I bent over, arms extended like wings and neck stretched as far forward as a human neck can go, I hiss as loudly as I can and charge right back at them! The look of intense surprise on their faces is almost as funny as watching the looks on the golfer's faces when they saw me doing that. But the geese immediately realized the language and backtracked in a great hurry. For my part, I felt really great looking as silly as a goose--they are, after all, some of my boyhood farm friends!
Angky

[mroeder75]

Great catch of the guy (or gal)!
All details showing very well.
The anecdotes shared about the hostility of these geese are accurate! But there is a very funny way of countering them--act just like a "silly goose"!
When I had a part-time retirement job of mowing a golf course, those rascals got quite a bit of enjoyment out of threatening my mower. Growing up on a farm and watching them chase everything from cows to school busses, I learned a bit of their language. When I bent over, arms extended like wings and neck stretched as far forward as a human neck can go, I hiss as loudly as I can and charge right back at them! The look of intense surprise on their faces is almost as funny as watching the looks on the golfer's faces when they saw me doing that. But the geese immediately realized the language and backtracked in a great hurry. For my part, I felt really great looking as silly as a goose--they are, after all, some of my boyhood farm friends!
Angky

I have seen geese spread their wings and act threateningly. Do the same as a goose to counteract them? These birds act tough. But, what a great strategy!

[lesmore49]

We encountered a pair walking back and forth across the trail ahead of us. We stopped and gave them space. There were no goslings, yet. That is a funny story.

---------- Post added 03-23-23 at 12:09 AM ----------


I just read an article about cooking a Canada goose. The meat can be tough, and it is possible to make a delicious meal from one but it is a rather involved process. And, your storied encounter, and your witnessed encounter, are, hilarious.

---------- Post added 03-23-23 at 12:11 AM ----------


In the area of the trail where the waterpark is located, the city installed plastic dogs on stakes. At the apex of the stake is a spring. The plastic dogs blow in the wind, and they do keep the geese out.

A buddy and I saw a fox at a country golf course. The fox was by a pond. We had telephoto lenses on, and for about 3 minutes or so, we carefully crept up on the fox. We got to within about 100 feet of the fox, and we were curious why he didn't seem to move from his position...just sticking to his spot...and moving back and forth, while in the same spot.

You guessed it, we had very stealthily moved towards a plastic fox.

[lesmore49]

Great catch of the guy (or gal)!
All details showing very well.
The anecdotes shared about the hostility of these geese are accurate! But there is a very funny way of countering them--act just like a "silly goose"!
When I had a part-time retirement job of mowing a golf course, those rascals got quite a bit of enjoyment out of threatening my mower. Growing up on a farm and watching them chase everything from cows to school busses, I learned a bit of their language. When I bent over, arms extended like wings and neck stretched as far forward as a human neck can go, I hiss as loudly as I can and charge right back at them! The look of intense surprise on their faces is almost as funny as watching the looks on the golfer's faces when they saw me doing that. But the geese immediately realized the language and backtracked in a great hurry. For my part, I felt really great looking as silly as a goose--they are, after all, some of my boyhood farm friends!
Angky

We have a lot of Canada Geese up here in the Western Canadian prairies. Around sunset, I have observed flocks settling down for the night on combined grain fields. Interesting to note that they will nestle on the field....but have some Canada Geese 'sentries', posted at different points around the perimeter of the resting flock. If approached...the sentries will alert the resting geese.

Don't think Canada Geese have many predators. Coyotes, fox, Bobcats, Lynx maybe. But they can be put up quite an effective defense.

Quite a number of years ago, a couple of Canadian Conservation officers (known as Game Wardens in the States) were observing (binoculars) a Common Loon and a large Canada Goose threatening each other, while on land. The Common Loon thrust it's long stiletto like beak, into the chest of the Canada Goose, which dropped to the ground.

The officers did an autopsy on the dead Canada Goose and the Loon's beak had penetrated the chest of the goose, killing it.

Common Loons are nothing to trifle with. While flyfishing for trout, I have had Loons buzz me quite close to my head. I took the hint and drove away...found another spot, that the Loons had not claimed as territory.

[mroeder75]

A buddy and I saw a fox at a country golf course. The fox was by a pond. We had telephoto lenses on, and for about 3 minutes or so, we carefully crept up on the fox. We got to within about 100 feet of the fox, and we were curious why he didn't seem to move from his position...just sticking to his spot...and moving back and forth, while in the same spot.

You guessed it, we had very stealthily moved towards a plastic fox.

I didn't guess it until I read the end of the story because last year we were less than 100' from a fox in town on our nightly walk, and it just sat there. Since I only had a cell phone I got a grainy picture of it. Poor critter had mange. We are in a small town fairly close to the edge of town. I don't know what the range is for a fox, but it must be at least 500-yards because the fox was about that distance to the nearest suitable fox habitat, although an abandoned outbuilding or area under a porch might also work.

Your story of your stealthy encounter with a plastic fox is still hilarious, but I am suspecting, our eyes are not getting younger.

---------- Post added 03-24-23 at 01:19 AM ----------

We have a lot of Canada Geese up here in the Western Canadian prairies.

Common Loons are nothing to trifle with. While flyfishing for trout, I have had Loons buzz me quite close to my head. I took the hint and drove away...found another spot, that the Loons had not claimed as territory.

It is interesting that what I thought to be a rather lame photo of a Canada goose sparked any conversation, and yet people here were incited to tell stories of goose encounters, and now a deadly loon encounter with a goose, and a nonfatal loon encounter with a fisherman.

I did not know loons were dangerous.

Now, you remind me of a story about a trial I attended while in law school for my trial practice class, and a deadly encounter between human beings. As it was between human beings I don't wish to describe it here. But if you wish for me to describe it, I will PM you.

[Wheatfield]

Beautiful shot of that Canadian Goose. That one does look healthy. We have a pair settled in a local nature preserve. I hope they are successful in raising some goslings.

Be careful what you wish for. During the depression, our local government decided that digging a lake in front of the local Legislative building would be a great way to keep idle hands busy and beautify the area at the same time. My father was one of hundreds of people who manned the shovels (it was done completely with shovels and wheelbarrows).

Anyway, they got themselves a pretty decent urban lake, and then after WWII, they decided to import a few nesting pairs of Canada Geese (they aren't actually native to this area).

By the time I came along, the population had grown to a few hundred geese using the park. We had a working power station at one end of the lake, using the lake water for cooling. Consequently, the lake didn't ever freeze over and the geese had forgotten how to migrate.
They eventually shut down the power station, leaving one generator running to keep the lake from freezing over, and they slowly shut that one down over the course of a few years to get the geese to start migrating again.

It worked, but alas, from those few nesting pairs introduced in the 1950s, we now have as many as 10,000 geese using the park area surrounding the lake during the summer months, and we have several hundred nesting pairs during the summer.

Canada geese are very large rats with wings. We know them here as Cobra Chickens, and they can be very dangerous during nesting season, and especially when they have goslings wandering around. It's not unusual to hear news reports that they have attacked some unsuspecting jogger or cyclist who inadvertently got too close to a clutch of goslings.

And now they seem to be forming their own militia, complete with military style parades.
I was fortunate to capture a picture of one such parade, barely escaping with my life.

Yes, I know I should have stopped down a bit more to get the commandant in focus, but I was driven a bit by fear that if I made him too recognizable he would send his army out to visit me.