From Scott Wells
Goose tries to take over Great Horned Owls nest. Momma GHO fought off the goose to protect her nest and two owlets. No harm to the owl family. Montgomery County, OH 3-19-2025
this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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For owls that are superb.
US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now
International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com
Australia Rescue Help: WIRES
Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy Wild Bird Rescue: wildvogelhilfe.org
If you find an injured owl:
Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.
Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.
Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.
If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.
For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.
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A thrilling saga! Do geese regularly predate on owl chicks?
I had never known this was a thing either. I always see the geese on the ground.
I did a little more digging and it is unusual for geese to nest in trees, it's not rare. They either like tree cavities or existing raptor nests. Nobody seems to really like the geese doing this. This owl is very not happy, and also I can upon a few people that tried to set up nests for more in danger birds like osprey, only to have some overly plentiful goose come and steal the spot.
Found another little photo series on Flickr showing another great views of a CG/GHO fight. Here's the best one for anyone that doesnt want to follow the link.
It doesn't sound like they will eat the chicks, just "evict" them.
My family used to have Canada Geese as pets when I was a kid. (Long story)
Geese are jerks, mostly.
It's like they got personality swapped with some other animal. A goose doesn't look like it should be mean and scary.
Like an orangutan is big and muscular and has teeth and such, but is generally peaceful. The goose just looks like a long duck, but its personality is always cranked up to 11.