January 17, 2015
At mid-winter, the surfaces of both the north and south pools of Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, in Mason County, Illinois, have been nearly all frozen for quite some time. As a consequence, waterfowl numbers have been low, except for small groups of mallards, Canada geese, and greater white-fronted geese. So on the morning of January 17, 2015, appreciating the recent above-freezing temperatures and light breezes, I patiently sat at one of the observation decks along the Chautauqua Nature Trail, near the refuge headquarters, to see what else might show up.
Soon, two large birds, rapidly flying just a few feet above the ice, caught my attention. My first thought was that both were Canada geese. But after bringing up my binoculars for a closer look I saw that one bird was, indeed, a Canada goose; the other bird not far behind, however, was an adult bald eagle, and it was in pursuit of the goose.
The eagle, though, quickly closed the gap and then passed in front of the goose. I thought this was strange, because it looked as if both birds were actually racing toward some common destination. And then in a flash, faster than I could detail the movements, the eagle attacked the goose with its talons and caused it to abruptly crash down hard onto the icy lake’s surface. The goose seemed momentarily dazed, like a fighter after being hit with a clean knockout punch. The eagle wasted no time, and quickly landed on the ice; now, with both birds standing, facing each other with outstretched wings, the eagle attacked again and again. But the goose held fast and fought off the eagle’s advances. At this point, the eagle must have sensed that it no longer held a significant advantage over the goose: it took flight and hastily left the scene.
Now the goose stood alone on the ice. I trained my spotting scope on the bird and saw that it stood on one leg, its other leg gingerly held above the ground. As it attempted to walk, it limped. So the goose was clearly wounded, perhaps from its hard fall. When I left, about fifteen minutes later, the goose still stood on its one good leg. The eagle did not return, but I had little doubt that it was watching not far away.
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To read more stories about birding along the Illinois River, please see my book, Side Channels: A Collection of Nature Writing and Memoir, available at selected locations and from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
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