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Along the road between Olifants and Letaba we had a chance of seeing an Egytian geese teach her chicks how to survive, probably from eagles.

There were a total of 6 chicks in the water and mother would take off, fly a half circle and suddenly dive towards the nearest chick.







Seconds before she landed the chicks would dive deep in the water and swim as fast and far as possible.
Mother would then take off again and do the same thing with all the others.

I have already witnessed something of the sort and is really teaching her chicks to keep an eye out for flying dangers and to save themselves swimming underwater to safety.
Sorry couldn't do any better for the pics, too far away!

Bit of topic but the best survival for Egyptian Geese is to migrate to The Netherlands
They are in great shape over here, multiply and are stronger and agressiver than the normal dutch bird so rule the country side.

nice story.
I guided on a canoe trip last year on the Rio dos Elefantes (Olifants River) in the Transfrontier Park from Massingir almost to the Limpopo confluence. One day we witnessed an African Fish Eagle try to catch some Egyptian goslings. For some reason the parents kept on crossing the channel, with about 6 goslings in tow. Every time the eagle swooped on the goslings, they'd all dive under the water, and as Rumruri described, all swim like mad under the surface. The parents would also go mad trying to chase the eagle away. I think we watched for about 10 minutes in total, with about 5-6 attempts. Eventually the eagle gave up and all carried on their merry way.

(Later that day I almost paddled into a pod of hippo, but that's a story for a different thread/day)

Apparently urban Egyptian geese on golf courses train their young to do the same thing when they hear the cry (especially on weekends) of ......FOUR......

Interesting event Rumuruti!

Are you 100% sure that that was her young? Is there a chance that it was other birds that she tried to intimidate? As mentioned ... they are very aggressive birds.

Very interesting indeed!

Evening Imberbe,
Yes they were her young. Ca state this simply because at one stage she had two of the young ones next to her.
I had seen something similar some 20 years ago in East Africa but never gave any importance to it. The mother had done the same thing for over 30 minutes and then finished got her young ones together and slowly swam off.

Nature is fascinating ...

Hi guys

Todays pic, an Egyptian Goose....



Camera: Nikon D60

I have just received an SOS call from the caretaker at our apartment complex.
A pair of Egyptian Geese has taken up residence in our swimming pool and altho nice to see are making a terrible mess in the water and on the grass surrounds, benches etc.
He has tried chasing them but they simply fly to the other pool area or around the block a few times and come back after he has left.
Does anyone have any ideas how we can discourage them and persuade them to find another more suitable spot.

Hi Elsa
this is a common problem around Durban and because the geese are not afraid it is difficult to re locate them the schools in Durban north put ramps into their pools when the ducklings arrive so they dont get trapped in the pools and drown and one school even leaves one lane of the pool closed during swimming season for the ducks and ducklings, some of last seasons ducklings even respond to their names if called.

Hope you find a solution.

Thanks for the response Wingman, I personally love hearing them flying by, reminds me of Kruger but I think the sun bathers and pool users are not quite so enarmoured!

They do keep to the rules:



It's in Dutch, so let me translate a bit, it's prohibited to fish or swim! I think this goose understands it perfectly...

Seems they are well educated in the Netherlands

Egyptian Goose at sunset.

Somewhere along the Crocodile River ...