Geese or swans?

[The Blunderer]

We have found our answer. Never mind geese, swans, tiger sharks, and mallards. Randy Duck was shot 13 times!! 13 times and was still alive!! What about that eh? Hard as nails in more ways than one. The ducks duck. A beast amongst birds and a right swine with the ladies to boot.

Surely the winner?

We have a new face off... Randy Duck vs. Rasputin, for the title of 'Hardest Lurve God'

[colin]

According to a Department of the Environment report, one bird was shot 13 times and was still alive when picked up from the water.

Mmmmmm.

I'd take that with a pinch of salt (possibly a twist of pepper and some orange sauce.)

Any duck with that much lead inside it wouldn't do too much floating.

[Nuclearsox]

We have found our answer. Never mind geese, swans, tiger sharks, and mallards. Randy Duck was shot 13 times!! 13 times and was still alive!! What about that eh? Hard as nails in more ways than one. The ducks duck. A beast amongst birds and a right swine with the ladies to boot.

Surely the winner?

We have a new face off... Randy Duck vs. Rasputin, for the title of 'Hardest Lurve God'

Follow this link and you'll see that Randy Duck is 6'2" and weighs 15st!! You'll also see that Kendrick has a cone-shaped head and Yorick is very, very pale. No stats for Ruddy Duck at all!!

[blue phil]

According to a Department of the Environment report, one bird was shot 13 times and was still alive when picked up from the water.

Mmmmmm.

I'd take that with a pinch of salt (possibly a twist of pepper and some orange sauce.)

Any duck with that much lead inside it wouldn't do too much floating.

Might have been rubber bullets.....

[American]

Bored at work, so I did some web searching.

CHECK THIS OUT

Someone might want to contact the photographer and find out who won.

[LDRover]

Bored at work, so I did some web searching.

CHECK THIS OUT

Someone might want to contact the photographer and find out who won.

American,

I think you can clearly see that the goose is well on top. It's using it's superior beak speed to get it's shots off and working in close to nullify the swan's reach advantage.

I'm pretty sure that this bout ended in a hospital visit for the swan.

By the way, did anyone read Monday's mirror where a group of 10 black Australian swans infiltrated a lake in Lincoln where a group of English swans were residing? In a kind of Ashes battle the English took the fight to their Australian counterparts and sent them packing.

Sorry, can't find a link.

[American]

Damn dark feathered immigrants!

[bob fleming]

I saw this yesterday. I don't know what to say. What a great photograph.

The swan bloke is clearly the bigger of the two but old Branta Canadensis clearly has the bigger heart and is just about to rip Cygnus Buccinators neck off - and Gold bless him for it. Needless to say I've ordered 5 of these at 225 bucks each for several rooms at home. That's about 85 quid in normal money if I've got my calculations right. Money well spent if you ask me.

They should have one of these in the tunnel at Ewood for when the players come out saying - "THIS IS EWOOD" - just to show that the underdog can win. Great spot American, Thanks.

Edited October 21, 2004 by bob fleming

[American]

ANOTHER FOWL ITEM OF "INTEREST"

Not for the faint of heart.

[Friarsnig]

Swans are hardest. Not only that they are the most intelligent. Swans win every time.

Geese are soft. I once drunkenly abducted a goose by chucking my coat on it - it fell over it's eyes and the silly honker just sat there for me to scoop it up. I even have a photo of it in my front room, sat there looking stupid. If it was a swan it would have snapped my forearm before I'd even got near, just with the power of it's mind alone.

Beware! Swans are the ones.

[The Blunderer]

Don't forget geese if not also swans may now also have Bird Flu in their already impressive armoury.

[Neil Weaver]

Could this be the definitive answer? Front page news in the local paper that should be online but no sign (we are talking Dingleshire here by the way) :

Calculating geese face eviction after vicious killing on river

Agressive geese are facing the boot from Otley after they attacked and killed a swan. Walkers in Wharfemeadows Park last week watched in horror as one of the Grey Lag geese battered to death one of the male swans. Despite frantic attempts by two 11-year-old boys to scare off the geese, the swan was unable to get away and eventually drowned......

[neekoy]

Obviously no one here has ever had the pleasure of meeting a plover during nesting season

[SouthAussieRover]

Obviously no one here has ever had the pleasure of meeting a plover during nesting season

I have, the most annoying being during a footy game when the bugger kept swooping at throw ins.

As for magpies...they make geese seem like pussycats

[neekoy]

At least Maggies leave you alone once you are out of their territory or on the ground bleeding

I once saw my friend being attacked by three plovers and he had to pull his dirtbike over him on the ground to stop them hammering him

Toughest birds south of cassowary country

But don't get me started on the vile blood lusting devil bird that is the cassowary

[philipl]

Don't try walking on the beach in Iceland without a stick when the great skuas are nesting.

The trick is to hold the stick above your head like an umbrella and they attack the top of the stick.

Forget the stick and they are capable of breaking your skull on one of their fly pasts.

[Neil Weaver]

If you go down to the river today you're sure of a big suprise. Plovers and skuas beware.

The latest from the continuing saga......

Territorial geese spark anger after swan attack

Calls to remove Otley's territorial geese have been made - after they were caught once again menacing swans. Last month, people in Wharfemeadows Park watched in horror as the pair of Grey Lags killed a fully grown swan. And now the two geese have been caught once again chasing a swan after picking it out of the flock....

It's genuine Yaaarkshire journalism.

[Tom Pringle]

Todd

Oh wait...Swan

[Neil Weaver]

This week's installment...........

Public face prosecution if they attack 'killer' geese

A national bird charity is warning that anyone who carries out revenge attacks against Otley's 'killer' geese could face prosecution. The RSPB is also urging residents to accept the 'natural order of things' following several reports of geese attacking swans on the River Wharfe.

In the worst incident several people claimed to have watched in horror as some Grey Lags killed an adult swan during a dispute on the river earlier this month. And last week, during another territorial battle between the species, one Otley man jumped in to the water and hit the geese until they let go of a swan in distress.

An RSPB spokesman however has warned that such behaviour is interfering with nature...... "Healthy swans can more than look after themselves against geese. As for the swan which was killed, I can only think that it must have been ill or injured because there is no way geese would be able to kill a healthy swan."

Disturbingly, the reporter adds in the final sentence : 'Last week the geese involved in the swan fights mysteriously vanished from the river.'

Someone tell me if I'm taking this too seriously

[bob fleming]

"As for the swan which was killed, I can only think that it must have been ill or injured because there is no way geese would be able to kill a healthy swan"

On the face of it that should answer our own unanswerable question. Straight from the horses mouth as it were or actually in this case the RBOS.

However, does this make this brutal killing OK? Does this excuse the behaviour of these rampant geese? And, perhaps most importantly, what the blazes does an employee of the Royal Bank of Scotland know about any of all this? Keep your opinions to yourself Bank boy and go back to randomly issuing credit cards.

This phrase that they're using "The Natural Order of Things" - whats all that about?!? To this writers mind there's nothing natural about gangs of geese ganging up in their gangs to attack singular solitary swans. It's enough to make you log on to BRFCS.com and complain. And if anything, it's cowardly. Like some sort of feathered organised crime mafia operation. Scorsese could make a filum out of all this and call it "Goodgeese" - although, of course, it would be totally @#/?.

Only in Yorkshire that's what I say.

[LDRover]

The Sun, page 21 , column one from Saturday 24th November.

Headline - "Swan is hardest in Britain"

Story of a swan who's been attacked by a pellet gun, crossbow and air rifle and lived to tell the tale.

Never been a swan fan but the question is, could a goose have taken such punishment? I'm not so sure.

Respect for the swan.