Geese Eating Fish

That's geese, eating fish, and not geese-eating fish.  Big difference there.

The first time I saw a Canada goose with a fish in its toothy bill, I thought to myself that it was just a fluke.  The goose had probably gotten the fish by mistake, when reaching for a bite of nutritious plant material.  He dropped it very quickly.

When I got home, I researched geese and what they eat.  Plant materials.  I googled the goose eating fish phenomena.  Nada.  No one else seemed to have information on what I had observed.  I stuck the picture and the idea on the back shelf.

Until a few weeks later.  At another location, I saw another goose with a fish.  What alerted me to this odd behavior was the way a seagull kept trailing this Canada goose, sticking very close to its side.  Why would a gull do that?  I noticed something dangling from the goose's bill.  It must be food that drew the seagull's attention, but why would a gull want plant material?  I zoomed in on the pair and there it was - a fish firmly clenched in the goose's mouth.  Hmmm.

I watch the odd pair for a couple of minutes, as the goose tried to eat the fish and the seagull kept hovering nearby, hoping he would drop it.  It was a bitterly cold day, and I was left to surmise that in such harsh conditions, maybe the goose was forced to unusual measures to survive.  Or maybe I just don't know much about geese.