Dive-bombing and birding don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but in the case of an osprey evicted by a Canada goose, watch out.

Six man-made osprey nests are found across Jasper National Park, the closest one being across from the cemetery on Highway 16. “It was probably about eight years ago now, the original old osprey nest that was in a big douglas fir tree that hung over the river, actually broke off and fell down,” said Wes Bradford, wildlife conflict specialist with Parks Canada.

Nesting platforms are located in spots where osprey nest or are trying to nest, explained Bradford. The nest across from the cemetery was constructed because the birds were building a nest on the power lines, said Bradford. “ATCO Power will go in and put up an artificial nesting platform because these ospreys want to nest there (the nest are put up) so the power doesn’t go out and that we don’t start a fire and don’t kill some ospreys,” he said. 

“Early this spring, before the ospreys got back, the Canada geese took over that nest [by the cemetery],” said Bradford, which geese will do, he added. “I tried to harass them out of there because Canada Geese have lots of places to nest, but I wasn’t able to harass them out of there. They kept coming back and when the ospreys showed up, there was quite a batter going on between these ospreys and these Canada geese,” said Bradford. 

These ospreys would dive bomb these Canada (geese)... to try to get them out of that spot,” said Bradford. 

Local birding enthusiast, Arvon Hilworth caught the belligerent birds on tape as they swooped down, clipping feathers off the impostor geese. 

Having been alerted to the dive-bombing ospreys by his daughter, Hilworth headed out with his video camera in tow to catch the aerial assault taking place. Watching the eight minute long video with Hilworth, his enthusiasm for birding was evident. “This is rare,” he said, adding that “to be able to videotape something like this is just unreal.” 

The video showed the geese ducking and weaving to avoid being hit by the swooping ospreys. As feathers flew, you could here the geese squawking, maybe calling for reinforcements that never came.

Despite the aerial bombardment, the hardy Canada geese lived to fight another day, leaving the ospreys without a home. “These ospreys were not able to move these geese out of the nest, they were staying tight,” said Bradford. “So then these ospreys started to build a nest on a power pole,” he said, meaning that they had to go in and put in another nest to keep the osprey off the power lines. 

Nesting high above the ground is an “anti-predator strategy” for both the osprey and Canada goose, explained Bradford. Canada geese taking over other osprey nests in North America is not new, he said. 

The Canada geese are now gone and the ospreys have their nest back, which sits atop a tree, said Bradford. ATCO Power, who pays for the nests, said Bradford, used to dig a hole in the ground, place a power pole in it and then put the nest atop the pole, he said. “Nowadays, what we do is we go and try to find a natural tree that’s there and we lop the top of it off and put a nesting platform on there,” he said. 

To Hilworth, this was a once-in-a-lifetime birding opportunity. “I just like birds and when you’ve got nothing better to do,” he said jokingly, it’s a good activity.