C19 forages alongside some geese

7.16.25

Are you as curious as I am about this situation? I was, so I read up on it to share with everyone.

By photographing this I was actually observing "threat assessment" in action. The geese and ducks see a young eagle foraging for easy prey on the mudflats, not hunting waterfowl. The eaglet doesn't have the skills yet to catch healthy adult waterfowl, so C19 is not an immediate threat.

This creates a window where future predators and prey can share the same feeding areas. The waterfowl's behavior makes sense - running from every potential threat would waste energy and keep them from good feeding spots.

This tolerance actually helps the young eagle learn. By foraging near other birds without scaring them, the eaglet can watch how waterfowl behave and even practice approaches without dealing with panicked, fleeing prey.

The geese aren't "forgetting" future risk - they're living in the present moment. They'll become much more wary once they observe this eagle hunting waterfowl.

The waterfowl can tell the difference between passive presence and active predator behavior. When the eaglet takes flight, it triggers a startle response because sudden movement looks like the start of a hunting sequence, even if the young eagle isn't hunting them.

This shows how tuned these birds are to movement rather than just what they see. A grounded eagle poses much less threat than one in flight with speed and maneuverability. The geese and ducks read the eagle's "body language" - calm foraging versus sudden flight.

They're comfortable foraging alongside the eaglet because they pick up on "not hunting" signals - the eagle's posture, how it moves its head while foraging, or that it's focused on the mudflat rather than watching them.

Once airborne, their risk calculation changes instantly as your can see in my photos. Their quick return to relaxed behavior shows how smart their threat assessment is. They're not just afraid of "eagle presence" - they constantly adjust based on what's happening right now.

It's like they have a mental checklist: eagle on ground + head down foraging + not watching us = keep feeding. When that changes with sudden movement or flight, they sound the alarm. Once the eagle settles back into non-threatening behavior, they quickly relax again.

This flexibility is crucial for survival where eagles are common. If they panicked every time an eagle was nearby, they'd waste too much energy being vigilant and miss good feeding opportunities. Instead, they've developed this smart response system that lets them coexist with potential predators while staying appropriately cautious.

This observation captures the real predator-prey relationship - not a simple "predator bad, run away" scenario, but constantly shifting assessment based on immediate behavior. Seeing this with C19 makes it even more interesting, since both the eagle and waterfowl are learning these interaction patterns together.