Why aren't sitting geese "sitting ducks"?

January 19, 2007 5:45 PM

I'm visiting an area with a small lake. During the day Canada geese scour the adjacent fields for gleanings. They return to the lake at night where they huddle together in the center, where there is a circle of water that has not yet been frozen. This part of the US also is home to bald eagles. Why don't raptors, particularly those adapted to water, have a field day preying on these "sitting geese"?
posted by turbojav to pets & animals (16 comments total)

I'm under the impression that bald eagles are primarily scavengers and fish thieves. In fact, the wikipedia page on bald eagles includes Ben Franklin's thoughts on the matter.
posted by JMOZ at 5:51 PM on January 19, 2007

JMOZ has it. Their primary food is fish. Plus the fact that an adult goose and an adult bald eagle are both approximately the same weight, 4 kg. An eagle could never get off the ground with a goose.

The geese spend the night in the water to avoid land predators like coyotes, foxes and dogs.
posted by JackFlash at 6:02 PM on January 19, 2007

Also, geese are quite feisty. I don't know if you've ever gotten on the wrong side of a goose, but they're scary. With the wings beating and the honking! If I were an eagle, even if the goose and I weren't the same size, I'd think it over before attacking.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 6:05 PM on January 19, 2007

With the wings beating and the honking!

Never mind all that. They bite. Hard.
posted by Urban Hermit at 6:14 PM on January 19, 2007

Lets not forget that geese stick together, if you don't believe me you can gaggle it.
posted by furtive at 6:23 PM on January 19, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Geese might be a bit heavy, but on several occasions here on Lake Okanagan I've seen a bald eagle dive a flotilla of coots. The coots will go under the water, but the eagle will isolate one and continue to dive in small circular passes as the coot surfaces for air. It takes maybe eight to twelve passes, but the eagle eventually will wear him out and pick him up. It's fascinating to watch. I wouldn't have believed eagles would be so canny and persistent until I saw it. We have lots of ospreys here, also, but I've never seen them with anything other than fish.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 6:55 PM on January 19, 2007

I've seen two seagulls successfully rob a bald eagle, because it could only attack them when it dropped its fish, and it could only attack one of them at a time, so I'd guess a whole gaggle of geese could do much worse to one eagle.
posted by tiamat at 7:02 PM on January 19, 2007

No, the geese aren't going to attack the eagle. He's likely learned that he won't get one out of the water, so goes for smaller prey. Those seagulls likely got that fish from an eagle that robbed an osprey in similar fashion.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:11 PM on January 19, 2007

OK then how about sitting ducks? They are smaller. And an osprey can fligh into water at 70 mph.
posted by turbojav at 8:58 PM on January 19, 2007

Yes I have been menaced by a goose and was surpised at how big and scary it was.
posted by turbojav at 9:00 PM on January 19, 2007

Raptors have to be selective about the size of their prey. An osprey can be drowned by a large fish, if the bird's claws, under tension, will not release.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:16 PM on January 19, 2007

Geese are a little too big, as has been suggested already.

Pigeons, however, are another story. There's small population of Peregrine falcons here in Chicago - the best way to find them is to look for neatly sliced bits of pigeon on the sidewalk.
posted by aladfar at 10:29 PM on January 19, 2007

1. Geese are big, but more importantly they don't taste like fish. Animals have taste buds too.
2. Killing and butchering a goose is a lot of work. Would you like to kill and butcher a whole cow every time you're hungry?
Mother nature don't make no fools...
posted by Gungho at 7:24 AM on January 20, 2007

Canada geese are kind of like us Canadians: idyllic, natural, and benign, until you get in their face, at which point they will bite you.

Sort of.

Maybe.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone.

I'll just be over here sitting quietly.
posted by loiseau at 9:54 AM on January 20, 2007

There's quite a few bald eagles near where I grew up (more so in recent years). They are lazy buggers and would never take on a large target that can fight back (eg: a goose) unless they were starving.
posted by Riemann at 12:26 PM on January 20, 2007

Eponysterical, l'oiseau.
posted by oats at 4:47 PM on January 20, 2007