Friday Photo Favorite: Feed Me!!

Not so little Greylag goslings in the English Garden, Munich. 

Silly Goose!

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.