Toronto, American artists capture wild Canada goose vs. bald eagle fight photos in an ice sculpture

Aura Carreño Rosas · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 2:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

If there's a perfectly Canadian worldly an creator tin usage to seizure that chaotic infinitesimal erstwhile a Canada goose fought disconnected a vicious onslaught from a bald eagle, it mightiness beryllium ice.

"As beardown arsenic crystal is, arsenic dense arsenic it is and arsenic unsafe arsenic it tin be, it's besides truly fragile," Toronto creator Sarah Blostein said. "If it doesn't person the close conditions ... it conscionable melts, oregon shatters oregon disappears."

Blostein said the photos by Oakville, Ont., lensman Mervyn Sequeira sent the connection of "strength and resilience" that she needed successful the mediate of "so overmuch depressing news" to make a unsocial portion — an crystal sculpture inspired by Sequeira's images.

When helium spoke to CBC Hamilton, Sequeira said while helium doesn't similar getting into politics, he found the brushwood betwixt the 2 birds "very symbolic."

Since becoming president again past November, Trump has commented repeatedly on wanting Canada to go the 51st state, and has imposed hefty tariffs connected steel, aluminum and different goods entering the U.S. from Canada. Canada has responded with tariffs of its own.

Blostein said that from the infinitesimal she came up with the thought for the crystal art, she wanted it to beryllium a two-person project, with an American sculpting the U.S.'s national bird. So Blostein enlisted her colleague, Riley Knaus, to implicit the portion with her.

'Crazy geese pulling ninja moves'

First reported by CBC Hamilton, the pictures travelled far. News outlets from astir the world — including the U.S., India and the U.K. — covered the communicative of the Canada goose-bald eagle fight.

Sequeira primitively posted the pictures to his Instagram relationship connected Feb. 25, telling CBC Hamilton a fewer days aboriginal that, from his perspective, "that is however quality works."

"But we're surviving successful a somewhat polarized satellite conscionable now, truthful immoderate radical looked astatine it differently," helium said.

He said the eagle made "several attempts" to onslaught the goose astatine the LaSalle Marina.

"When we thought that it was truly implicit for the goose, strangely, the bald eagle conscionable gave up and left."

Blostein said she recovered the pictures "funny" and they "looked similar a governmental satire cartoon."

"I person ne'er seen a Canada goose spell similar afloat 'ninja,' and that's what was truthful large astir it," she said.

Blostein was the lone Canadian successful her radical erstwhile she saw the photos and said her American colleagues often teased her astir the thought of Canada becoming the 51st state. 

Blostein said the pictures evoked a "sentiment of '51st state, my ass,'" inspiring her to permission her people and show "Americans don't cognize what they're successful for if they effort to [annex Canada]."

"We're arrogant of everything that makes america Canadian and we mightiness beryllium brainsick geese pulling ninja moves," she said.

A cross-border collaboration

Blostein said she is "obsessed with Halloween," which brought her to pumpkin carving and, eventually, crystal sculpting.

She arrived successful Fairbanks, Alaska, successful January to unpaid astatine the World Ice Art Championships with lone 1 three-day sculpting people nether her belt. She participated successful one contest, but it wasn't until she was helping retired with the children's contention that she saw other pieces of crystal and thought to sculpt the goose.

Knaus heard Blostein talking astir the pictures for "a fewer hours" earlier helium looked intimately astatine the enactment betwixt the 2 birds. The pictures "spoke" to him and truthful helium agreed to the collaboration.

"We weren't carving [the aforesaid piece] together, but we were capable to make a finished portion together," helium told CBC Hamilton.

Knaus, 22, is a chainsaw artist based successful Coos Bay, Ore. This was his 3rd year at the crystal title successful Alaska.

He said the tense U.S.-Canada relations were not connected his caput until aft helium finished carving the bald eagle.

"You bash commencement to spot the bigger representation alternatively than being truthful dialled successful ... it astir becomes metaphorical astatine that point," helium said.

"Because I was focused connected my side, I wasn't truly excessively acrophobic what was going [on with Blostein]."

Knaus and Blostein ended up picking antithetic pictures from Sequeira's photograph sprout to reference. Blostein went for the "dynamic" goose airs successful the astir recognizable picture, portion Knaus went for a much reserved airs for the eagle.

Knaus said helium liked the look of the eagle feeling "taken aback" successful 1 of the photos and thought it would beryllium amended to springiness the goose much of a spotlight.

"I felt towards the emotion of the goose much truthful than I did the eagle astatine that point," helium said.

Knaus said Canadians are "beautiful people" who should beryllium "fighting for what you guys judge in."

He said carving the sculpture was besides a bully accidental for the younker to spot different artists successful action, "rather than conscionable instrumentality immoderate pointers."

Blostein and Knaus wanted to sanction the portion Honk, Mother-Flocker, Do You Speak it? as a motion to the Samuel L. Jackson enactment from 1994's Pulp Fiction, but chose the much family-friendly Fowl Play, seeing arsenic they were helping retired successful a children's competition.

"Seeing that picture, which was some quality and art, done the eyes of the photographer, and being capable to amplify that with different signifier of creation — there's conscionable thing truly peculiar astir that for me," Blostein said.