sundavr:

bettsplendens:

Alright, here’s a tip: When a goose starts coming at you like this, don’t freak out. Just reach down and grab its neck, right behind its head. Holding just tightly enough to keep a grip, keep it close to you, and hook your other arm over its back and under its belly. Lift it up, hold its body firmly against you, keep ahold of the neck so it can’t bite you, and you have a goose. Carry it around a bit, show it to small children, then go throw it (gently) into the nearest body of water. It’ll leave you alone. 

Make sure you have a good grip on the feet/legs though, they’ve got some serious claws.

Also if you try this keep those wings wrapped up tightly, to prevent injury to either you or the bird.

^Good points. 

You want to have your arm over the closed wings, and can usually use the hand on that arm to kinda pin the legs to the body. If you have a jacket on, the foot claws probably aren’t going to be much of an issue anyway, but you need to keep the wings up close to the body so it can’t hurt itself flapping. Also, don’t hold onto the neck tightly- you aren’t trying to strangle it. 

I’m a pretty small person and can hold a goose under one arm, it’s not too difficult. Sometimes you can even let go of their head+neck and they’ll be too confused to bite. If you do keep hold of the neck, do it gently- just strong enough to keep the head away from your face. You don’t want to hurt the goose, it’s not malicious, you only want to demonstrate that it should avoid you. 

If a goose is going after a small child nearby or is being aggressive towards you, you can usually change its mind it by showing challenging body language. Lift your shoulders up real high, talk loudly to it, wave or flap your arms a bit against your sides, and march towards it like you mean business. Most will decide not to mess with you. If they do, they’ll do this low-head thing like in the video, which makes them real easy to grab. Little kids like it when you save them from a goose and then let them pet it. 

I suggest tossing them into water because it’s the best way to let them go without having to worry about dropping them or getting hit by wings or claws. Just let go of the neck first. They’ll usually make a big splash, ruffle their feathers indignantly, and swim away from you. 

Do NOT try any of this with swans! They’ll hurt you. 

Ducks generally aren’t aggressive, but this will work easily on them. You can hold a duck under each arm.