Scaring off a goose

On June 1, 2024June 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I have seen an Egyptian goose in the Tampa area once. One showed up last summer in south St. Pete. They are an invasive species and are seen out in the wild in south Florida. I had heard there was another one at the Largo Nature Preserve and the first time I went I didn’t see it. On a recent trip I walked around the preserve on the golf course side where I heard he usually hung out and didn’t see him but when I got to the other side of the preserve he was there, walking along the bank.

After taking a few shots of the goose I realized there was a mallard Mom with babies swimming around in front of the goose.

Dad flew in and was staying close to the family. I thought “How cute” as they made their way down the side channel.

Then I saw the goose flying towards the side channel.

Look how cute the family is! Both parents were keeping the babies close.

I watched the goose go down to the water and get a drink right in front of the family. It was then I realized what was going on.

This mean invasive goose was going after a baby for a meal. He slipped into the water and snuck up on the family. Mom squawked at the goose.

The goose backed off at first but stayed close by and then kept testing the parents. Dad wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping the babies safe even though he was right there. Mom was fighting off the goose. At this point there were a handful of people on the trail watching. Two ladies started picking up sticks and rocks and throwing it at the goose. No one was going to get in that water though. The water is full of alligators (which also makes a meal out of baby duck).

The goose finally swam away to the other side and the family kept going down the channel. I couldn’t tell if anyone hit the goose with a stick or rock but he seemed to have given up for the time being. Someone said they started out with 13 babies and now they are down to 9. Was it the goose or other usual Florida animals (hawks, owls, eagles, otters, alligators) that got them?

The mallard family went away swimming fast and stayed together. Although the babies were probably oblivious to what was going on.

The goose flew over to my side of the channel and walked right up to me.

I took this with my phone. He seemed to be mad like it’s my fault he lost a meal. I put my camera down and waved my arms and yelled at him (like the crazy person I am). He took off and flew around the bend and headed back towards the golf course.

These geese are invasive and are not protected. There’s an urban legend that they originally escaped from the Miami zoo when Hurricane Andrew came through in 1992 and did a lot of damage to the zoo. There are a lot of them in south Florida and have taken over some parks. They are aggressive and poop a lot. I hope it doesn’t happen here.

Rescue trips in the first half of August

On October 23, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay put out a request for a volunteer to pick up an injured turtle that someone had brought in to a vet. Thinking it may have been hit by a car. This is my first sad trip. I got to the vet office and they told me it had just passed away. It was probably in bad shape when it was brought it. As I was fighting back the tears they said “We do have an injured duck. Can you take that to a rehabber?” My response was “Of course”

So this cutie made the trip to the Raptor Center all alone. It looked a little scratched up but otherwise in good shape.

This little wide eyed cutie made the trip from the Raptor Center to a rehabber near St. Pete. Paula at Crikey Wildlife Rescue specializes in rehabbing and releasing raccoons and squirrels. She has had the rabies vaccine and can work with older raccoons, although rabies is fairly rare in our area (only 1 case this year and zero last year in Pinellas county).

I had a carload of red shoulder hawks in the back of my SUV on this trip. Two had been brought in on the same day and both had been shot. The third one had an injured wing.

Nancy from the Raptor Center was able to get them x-ray’d to confirm that the 2 had been shot. Above is one of the x-rays. You can see the tiny bullet near the end of his wing. Who does that? Maybe the hawks were stealing chickens from a farmer or backyard? I would hate to think they were just randomly shot but it could happen.

All three were headed to a vet in Nokomis (south of Sarasota), about an hour away from the Raptor Center. The vet works with wildlife and was going to take the bullets out of the 2 and look at the other one with an injured wing. Since they would stay overnight I just dropped them off and someone nearby was bringing them back later.

The vet was 10 minutes from Nokomis beach so I stopped and got out for a few minutes to stretch my legs before heading home (it would be close to 2 hours to get back to my house). It would have been a perfect morning if it wasn’t so hot. I should have brought my swimsuit and gone for a dip.

Heading over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to get back home. Not much traffic this morning (which is rare).

This tiny young squirrel was brought into a vet one morning. I picked him up and headed straight to the rehabber Penny in south St. Pete.

In mid-August we had a bad storm move through the area and the next day there were quite a few baby squirrels that were brought in. Nests or babies falling from trees in the storm. I drove out to the Raptor Center in Brandon and picked up a large box of squirrels. All different ages and they were huddled together for warmth. They were all going to Penny in south St. Pete to grow up and eventually get released.

A crow with an injured wing also made the trip. He yelled the entire trip.

I had heard there was a rare Egyptian goose that had showed up in the area near where Penny lives. Since I was going to be down there I threw my camera in the car and after dropping off the squirrels and crow I headed to the nearby lake. He was very easy to find. I pulled over and snapped a couple of shots before heading home. This was the first time I have heard of them being in Pinellas county. They are populated all over south Florida, especially in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I couldn’t find any definite information on whether they were released on purpose or escapees from a zoo. They have been sighted in Florida since the 80’s. They are invasive like the muscovy ducks and I’m sure the neighbors hope it doesn’t have a mate.