Anyone who has had an encounter with a Canada goose knows they won’t be messed with easily. An American bald eagle learned that lesson in a clash with a goose late last month.
The battle has made headlines — symbolic of the Canada-U.S. tariff war.
The combat was caught on camera by Burlington, Ont., photographer Mervyn Sequeira. He was out with his family when they spotted the eagle descending toward the frozen ice near the LaSalle Marina in Burlington.
Sequeira looked out and saw a Canada goose alone on the ice and seemingly vulnerable.
“The goose appeared to be sick to me because it was all alone, which is not common for these birds,” Sequeira told The New York Post. “It remained on the ground, so something must have been wrong with it.”
For the next 20 minutes, he lifted his camera and trained his lens on the ensuing battle. How could the goose win against the bird of prey, renown for it’s ability to swoop down and scoop fish from open water and small animals from open fields?
He has seen bald eagles snatch up everything from ducks to muskrats, he told the Guardian.
But what he saw next surprised him. The goose did not give in.
Despite several vicious thrusts by the eagle, the goose stood its ground.
Canada geese are larger than typical eagle prey, making them more challenging targets. It appears the goose used its wings to shield itself from the eagle’s talons and beak, making it difficult for the predator to land a decisive blow.
And, so, the goose endured.
The raptor gave up and took flight.
The bald eagle is the national symbol of the United States and appears on its official seal. The beaver may be the national symbol of our nation of builders, but that day a Canada goose did us proud.
With our sovereignty under threat from Donald Trump, the outcome of the battle between the two birds seems to have become a symbol of another burst of national pride – a Canadian spirit animal holding fast.
Sequeira is a retired airline pilot and has been photographing Canadian wildlife for 30 years. He is more inclined to look at the clash simply as an incident in the wild but understands people’s inclination to overlay symbolism on it.
“It’s…natural for people to look at it in the context of what’s happening,” he said.
His collection of photos showing the Canada Goose vs Bald Eagle battle started to gain traction online after the Trump tariffs were finally unveiled.
As if to mirror the battle in nature, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to Trump’s initiating a tariff war by placing retaliatory tariffs on approximately $30 billion worth of American goods.
“To the American people, we don’t want this. We want to work with you as a friend and ally and we don’t want to see you hurt either, but your government has chosen to do this to you,” Trudeau said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Canada may not have an official national bird but the Canada goose is certainly linked to our identity. Against the present reality of an American president who seems insistent on throwing around his country’s might against what he perceives to be weaker nations, Canadians can surely stand on guard for that goose.
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