[Rhodes22-list] Bald Eagle/Canada Geese Standoff

[Jesse Shumaker]

Roger, thanks for sharing.  You have an abundance of wildlife at your
home!  We have some bald eagles near where I live along the Missouri River,
and we also have quite two different types of geese that like to spend time
at nearby ponds.  Like you said, the geese can be quite aggressive, but
I've never seen them interact with an eagle.  Your story made me think of
the different groups of ducks at the lake where I sail.  There's a group of
mallards, a group of some diminutive breed (not sure what kind), and
another rag tag bunch which is made up of all different types who banded
together so they can hold their own.  Some groups are more aggressive than
others.  Sailors at our lake have learned that if you feed the ducks, they
will recognize you and wake you up in the morning by tapping on the hull
with their beaks to let you know they are hungry.

Jesse Shumaker
S/V Zephyr

On Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 8:45 AM ROGER PIHLAJA <Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Spring must be coming because the river in front of my house finally
> thawed and started flowing again a couple of days ago.  Almost as soon as
> there was flowing water, a flock of Canada geese moved onto the sand bar
> about 80 yards from my beach.  If you’ve spent any time around Canada
> geese, you know how territorial they can be.  Today, an immature bald eagle
> landed on the sand bar about 50 feet away from the geese.  The geese
> weren’t having any of that.  They immediately surrounded the eagle on 3
> sides.  With its back up against the river, the eagle was in real trouble.
> The birds kept threatening each other for several minutes.  But, it was a
> standoff and no one was giving ground.  Then, another immature bald eagle
> landed next to the first eagle.  Amazingly, the geese weren’t intimidated!
> They kept both eagles surrounded and all the birds were making threat
> displays and making lots of noise for several more minutes.  Then, a third
> immature bald eagle landed next to the other two!  Now, the Canada geese
> backed off.  They executed an amazingly orderly retreat, keeping their eyes
> on the eagles the whole time.  When the whole flock was in the water, they
> swam away, leaving the eagles in possession of the sand bar.  The whole
> show probably lasted 15 minutes.  I’ve never seen bald eagles work together
> like that.  I thought they were solitary hunters.  It was pretty cool!  It
> was also exciting to see 3 immature bald eagles near my house.
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
>