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Photo by X /WhiteHouseAn X post by the White House recently featured no text just an image of a bald eagle, wings spread, staring off into the distance, while standing on the neck of a Canada Goose.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorThe photo seemed to tell an entire story of dominance and submission. But there was much more to it than that.Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again“This photo is from a documented 20-minute encounter on frozen Lake Ontario where a bald eagle attacked a Canada goose,” a reader-generated caption under the post soon read, using the correct name for the lake. “The goose fought back and survived after the eagle gave up and retreated.”It’s true. The goose/eagle faceoff was captured a year and a half ago in Burlington, Ont., by photographer Mervyn Sequeira, who posted numerous pictures of the 20-minute battle to his Instagram account, and was interviewed by media about the event, which was covered by National Post.“It was like boxers in a ring,” Sequeira said at the time, calling the matchup “very symbolic in the political context.”“The eagle kept repeatedly attacking, and the goose was hissing and pecking as best it could, defending itself,” he said. “And there were times when it seemed hopeless for the goose … I thought it was over; however it was very, very impressive. The goose fought back and came out of that and survived the day.”The eagle, meanwhile, flew away.Responses on social media included several images of a beaver gnawing down a wooden statue of the U.S. president. The official account for Build Canada, a federal agency launched last year to finance affordable housing, responded with another picture from the same series, showing the Canada goose raising its wing in an apparent attack.This wasn’t the first time the Trump administration has evoked the symbol of America’s national bird, a status that was only made official under legislation signed in 2024 by president Joe Biden. The bird of prey had been an unofficial symbol since the 1700s, and was the name of the country’s first manned lunar lander in 1969.In June Trump posted an apparently AI-generated image of a golden eagle adorning the White House, calling it “A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!” CNN reported that real photos of the White House did not show the bird, and that it had the wrong number of stars on its accompanying shield.And in February, when the U.S. men’s hockey team beat Canada to take the gold medal at the Winter Olympics, the White House sent out the same eagle/goose image it used this week, over a year-old post from then-prime minister Justin Trudeau that said: “You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game.”The image may not even be an unaltered photograph. Sequeira’s Instagram feed shows 16 photos of the battle, none of which exactly matches the one released by the White House.There are also similarities between the White House image and a series of photographs taken in 2021 by photographer Patrick Keefe in Prince Edward Island, though again not an exact match. That encounter also made the news, and once again the goose survived.National Post has reached out to the White House for more information.Birds neither know nor care what country they are from. But news stories from a decade ago point out that Nova Scotia was instrumental in reviving the fortunes of the bald eagle, which was on the U.S. endangered species list in the 1980s but has since bounced back.Canada is home to 55% of the global bald eagle population! Roughly 110,000 of these majestic birds can be found across the country, but especially along the west coast. #Birders, drop your best Canadian bird photo! 🦅🍁 pic.twitter.com/oiEXgPrUwL— Canada (@Canada) August 12, 2026And this month the X account of Global Affairs Canada boasted that Canada is home to 55 per cent of the global bald eagle population. “Roughly 110,000 of these majestic birds can be found across the country, but especially along the west coast,” the agency posted, inviting birders to “drop your best Canadian bird photo!”In other words, there’s a better than 50 per cent chance the bald eagle in the White House image was hatched in Canada.Trump’s history with birds of prey took a personal turn in 2015, when a photo shoot for Time magazine in the Oval Office resulted in a bald eagle lunging at the president and causing him to shy away. Trump told Fox News at the time that the eagle didn’t scare him.Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.