Saw a mother goose panicking beside a smaller goose, which I'm sure was her offspring. The smaller one was having trouble. There were three of us in the boat and I said to the others, I think a snapping turtle has a hold of that goose and is pulling it down.
I wondered if we should interfere with nature like wildlife documentarians ask themselves. Sometimes they will help an animal if it falls into a crevice for instance. But I also thought, is that turtle being territorial or trying to eat? And would it even eat a bird full of feathers? Well the other two said we're going to do something.
So we went over and indeed it was a snapping turtle that was first pulling the goose down by its beak and then its wing.
One of us scooped the turtle from underneath with the net while it was still holding onto the wing. While we were searching for something to poke the turtle with, I took a pic. We used the end of the fishing rod handle to poke its head lightly and it let go. The goose swam away, but by this time, its family abandoned the area.
When we came back to that spot two hours later, we saw the moment when the goose family swam by in the direction of the injured goose, who then proceeded to join them.
I wonder if that turtle was actually doing a favour since some experts consider the goose population to be way too abundant these days.
I've had several encounters with snapping turtles the past three years, including reeling one in that took my bait. And I also found this one sunbathing on a trib last year. Also found one two months ago in the middle of a park about 20 yards away from the water. A guy picked it up and put it back in the water. I made sure to confirm with him if he knew how far they could turn their necks back.
Last weekend I was fishing a lake and stumbled upon this in the water. Karma? Okay different turtle but same species.
Also found this bird dazed and confused in the middle of the road that goes to the trib I was fishing in May. Pulled over and stopped two cars for a few seconds to grab it and set it aside.
Found a dead mole while shore fishing a G-Bay beach for smallies.
Also in May, while trolling a trib I encountered these strange looking birds. Never seen this species before. Nor has anyone else I sent the pics to. They're called common merganser and the females have the red mohawks. Southern Ontario is in their range, but that's news to me!
And speaking of birds with their chicks, also saw this in a harbour. Was fishing this really small island and we were almost being dive bombed by this seagull looking bird. That of course meant there were chicks nearby. And there they were. Cute little things.
And finally, on a lake full of lily pads, I encountered this beaver with a big lily pad in its mouth swimming a good 30 yards back to its dam with it. No idea why it took a lily pad that far across when its dam was also surrounded by lily pads all around it!
NATURE!
