Silly Goose!
Friday, June 3, 2011 at 19:20 We've been visiting the English Garden the past few weekends to see the babies growing. Last week we saw some unusual behavior from a Greylag Goose near the Seehaus.
First we see him happily swimming with his family.
But then another goose catches his eye and he quickly turns to go after it.
A goose snapping at something was not unusual in itself. These guys can be pretty aggressive with other birds and will persistently beg you for food by nipping the back of your knee to "let you know" that they want bread. They'll also eat it from your hand without hurting you - they're much rougher on other birds than on people. Obviously they understand "don't bite the hand that feeds you" quite well!
What was unusual was first, that the other goose swam underwater to evade attack
and second, how aggressively the attacker continued to pursue him, trying to catch and bite him.
By this point, they've zigzagged back and forth in front of us for a seemingly long time (probably under a minute), with the victim spending most of the time fully underwater (circled in orange) and kicking up a trail of muddy water.
The strategy works, and clearly he can swim underwater much faster than his pursuer can on the surface. Realizing this, our attacker changes tactics and tries to catch up with a quick flight and a divebomb.
And...he fails....
But decides to give it one last try!! (you can see the other one still underwater, below his left wing)
Finally he gives up on the chase
and returns to his woman and children...
...with a big spash!
We could never figure out what started the attack - it seemed unprovoked to us, but we don't speak goose very well. All I know is that I'm eternally grateful I'd set the camera to shutter priority. It's the only way to get decent shots of things that are bundles of endless, unpredictable energy...like baby ducks and silly geese.
Frau A ... 6 Comments Photography, Art, & Architecture tagged English Garden, geese 1 Reference ... Print Article Email Article Share Article 
Reader Comments (6)
Fantastic photography! Great story!
I see from the EXIF data that this was done with a Nikon D700. Think you would have had similar results -- and ease of use with the E-PL2? I'm this close to snapping up one from amazon.de, now that the E-PL2+14-42mm kit has dropped to under 500€ -- but on dpreview.com a repeated point has left an impression on me. Something like "If you mess with your exposure settings frequently, you should give this camera a second thought before purchasing."
Well, yeah — of course I mess with the exposure settings frequently. Who doesn't?
What do you think — is the reduction down to just one knob on the top of the body as a compromise toward portability still worth it? Do you accidentally select stuff with the vertically rotating dial built into the 4-way button on the back of the body? I can't seem to find an E-PL2 anywhere (neither here in Germany nor on a recent trip to Best Buy in the U.S.) to actually put in my hands. I'd really love your input on this one!
As an aside, the CAPTCHA I just entered was "pqeno" — looks a lot like "pequeño" to me. An omen?
@Cliff: The E-PL2 will hold its own against a D700 in good light, when the action is not too fast. In this situation, the light was good enough but the E-PL2 would NOT have captured these shots. For one, the fastest burst rate is a little slow (3fps vs 5 for the D700, if I remember correctly) and even if it could burst as quickly, the contrast autofocus can't keep up (phase autofocus on the D700). Only the newer Panasonic GH2 can keep up on both autofocus adjust and burst rate. So, honestly, if you want to capture fast action, the E-PL2 won't do it. The GH2 might. I got the E-PL2 knowing these tradeoffs, but do miss the "pro" capabilities when FrauA starts firing away in situations like these...
On the other side, I get the advantage of a much smaller and lighter form factor. With the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 on, it is almost as small as a compact -- fits in a jacket pocket. So I take mine more often, which is why most restaurant shots are from my camera (the f1.7 lets a LOT of ligh, so works well in poorly lit rooms).
As far as the changing settings point... I have no problems. I do change my settings all the time without problem. Yes, the wheel will occatinoally get moved in my bag, but that is true of almost every camera. There are four user-defined settings you can save, and it takes 2 secs to call them up and make sure the settings are what you want. For the basics (Shutter, Aperture, ISO) it is definitely fast enough. And honestly, in A mode, are you really changing ISO that much? Most people, no.
That's my 2 cents. I will repeat: low light, fast action -- NOT the camera. Small, light, can-be-on-you-all-the-time, APS-C quality in good light (or use the awesome f1.7 in low light) -- that's it's sweet spot.
Check out the Panasonic GH2 and see if that form factor works for you (those are also hard to find, unfortunately). That has the new sensor, new autofocus and burst rate, and is only a little larger. Let me know if I can add anything else, OK? HerrJ
Thanks for the response. Just one other point for me to consider at the moment, really.
Does it feel weird with no viewfinder!? I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that, versus live view I mean.
@Cliff: Olympus VF-2. It's a separate viewfinder/accessory, has 100% coverage, that fits onto the hotshoe. Excellent. DPreview likes it too. Drawbacks: wreaks havoc on the battery life, and can't use an attached flash at the same time (they would need to use the same hotshoe). Otherwise a great accessory (I have it).