Goose War
LAMBTON WOODS - APRIL 24, 2022
Lambton woods has been absolutely deafening with birdsong every time I’ve been there for a casual walk recently, so I wanted to go back with my gear.
The noise was just as boisterous as always, but pinning any of the singers on camera proved much more difficult. Sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and chickadees were hopping branch to branch but never staying still long enough for a decent shot. I did get treated to a show when a group of six or so cardinals started making low loops of the forest, zipping by a few feet ahead of me over and over.
I wound up spending most of my time following a double-crested cormorant up and down the humber river as he dove (unsuccessfully, it seemed). I almost caught him on a rock striking that classic cormorant wing-drying pose but of course by the time I had the right lens on he had dried himself out and didn’t feel compelled to do it again.
The whole time he was sunning himself on a rock, he was flanked by a couple of geese who seemed to want his perch but weren’t quite willing to get physical about it. Another goose pair arrived and they started honking and fighting it out amongst themselves, with this cormorant stuck in the middle like an uncomfortable dinner guest in the middle of a sudden argument. The geese sorted themselves out, eventually. No harm done.