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@outie @doot a few years back there was an owl in Oregon that swore vengeance on all humankind, I think because it built a nest right next to a trail in a public park. Anyway, they had to create custom warning signs

Andy in Indy

@funkula @outie @doot@glitterkitten.co.uk My neighborhood has an owl that dive bombs early morning dog walkers, as testified by several gouged and bloody scalps.

We call it the Fluffy Murder Ball and it probably weighs all of 5 pounds. None us would survive a scaled up 50x version.

@naptowncode @funkula @doot similarly of course: anyone who's ever been seaside and observed seagulls descending upon some poor sod with a tiny plate of chips knows about birds

@naptowncode @funkula @doot I keep thinking about yon survey suggesting something like 80% of Americans think they could take a goose in a fight versus like 30% of Europeans

which I choose to read as a second-degree expression of a gulf in childhood experiences of being chased by an angry goose as a toddler between the regions

@outie @naptowncode @doot nobody keeps geese in the US (maybe no one keeps them in Europe either, I don't know) and there's a cultural expectation, with law to back it up, to leave wild geese alone except in the context of licensed hunting. So unless the geese intrude on your living space most Americans might see geese through a car window but never interact

@funkula @naptowncode @doot meanwhile Europeans get lots of experience with wild geese and swans just by living in or visiting a town with a river where they'll just be hanging out in public green spaces

Hence (presumably) fairly widespread shared childhood trauma of being a toddler chased by large waterfowl

@funkula @naptowncode @doot Cambridge specifically has a swan who lives on the river in town here and has a reputation for attacking people doing rowing practice, to the point where there are fairly regular calls to put him down or relocate him

@outie @naptowncode @doot I suppose there's parts of the US where there are long-term inhabitant geese in public parks. In Texas we get them as migrants but they're protected so the usual response is to just let them have that space until they move on.

@funkula @outie @naptowncode @doot I've been mugged by resident Canada geese in parks and on campus when i was in college. Anywhere with a temperate enough climate and large expanses of grass is going to have at least a small flock anymore. They are considered a real problem in golf courses.

People will encounter geese as long as they go outside.

@outie @naptowncode @funkula @doot
I witnessed my toddler sister being attacked by a black swan. Bugger waited until I had walked away and not paying attention. Scarred for life.

@naptowncode@mastodon.online @funkula@goblin.camp @outie@slime.global @doot@glitterkitten.co.uk It's weird that we are so freaked out by all sorts of animals like spiders, yet the dogs many of us have in our homes would be far more dangerous if they got a notion (not to mention the other humans). Our fear factor seems to be rooted in how weird something seems to human eyes rather than a rational appraisal of threat.