The Naturalness of Nature

Well, didn't we have an interesting few days!  Yesterday, just after I finished telling a neighbor how the chickens are doing fine despite the hawks because the geese scare them away, the theory was tested.  The geese started screaming bloody-blue murder from their pond.  I ran to see, and lo and behold, this is what flew into the trees.

Disclaimer: not the actual hawk.  I didn't have my camera nearby at the time

He/she hung around for a while and flew to another tree, but I guess he didn't like the noise, so off he/she went.  No meal for him/her.  Good geese!

And then today, I was in the house cleaning up and I hear a small goose screech and then hear everyone run for cover under the deck.  Then I hear this pathetic "Fwee" noise, so I look out.  The little roo is diving for cover, as is everyone else.  He's the one making the noise.  Some alarm.  The geese were mum, I should say.  Just as I'm thinking "What the hell are you all running for?", something catches my eye, and it's this:

Big as life, in the yard, near the pool, which is maybe 50 feet from the back door. Really close, which is why all of the animals were running for cover, and the roo was doing his bad imitation of a warning call. 

 Oh, and no, that's not my picture either.  My picture looks like this, because I didn't get the camera in time.

Can you see it?  No?  Let me help you:

Better, ya?  Anyway, I figure he/she came up because he/she saw the chickens and was thinking this:

Disclaimer: not my chicken.  If it were, this would be a different sort of post.

But no such luck for him/her.  He/she lumbered off without a meal.  Too bad!

You see, even though we have a lot of this:

And this:

And these running around:

We are farming in a non-conventional area: ie; it's all woods, baby.  So there's a lot of this:

And this:

And a bunch of this:

And that:

And more of this:

OOoh!  Orbs!  The place is haunted!

Which is why we bought the house in the first place.  House is nice, land is spectacular, and we planned on leaving much of it the way it is, using only what we need.  Animals and crops are kept close to the house for that reason.   But, of course, there are the "neighbors" to deal with.

Dang nature.  Again, I am thinking I might need one of these:

But being as though I loathe violence, maybe loaded with beanbags or blanks just to scare the thing away.  Anyone have similar situations?  What do you think about rifles to scare away unwanted potential feasters?  Inquiring mind wants to know!