A curious goose inspects a tan camera bag with its beak, while standing on grass. The bag has a black camera lens sticking out of it.

18-year-old British photographer Jacob Brown was recently photographing local wildlife in Lythan Saint Annes, United Kingdom, when he nearly became the victim of a theft by a very unusual suspect: a goose.

“I was taking a photo of some swans when I noticed the goose behind me trying to pull my bag away,” Brown wrote on Reddit’s Wildlife Photography subreddit earlier today.

“I reached behind for my lens and I noticed that my bag had moved,” Brown tells PetaPixel.” I turned around to see the goose struggling to move [my] bag but had managed to move it a fair bit.”

A goose investigates a beige bag and camera lens on green grass, its beak close to the bag as it curiously explores the items. Yellow flowers are visible in the background.

“It was making a quiet chatter noise which was very strange because I thought the goose had really lifted my gear,” Brown laughs.

The young photographer has been taking pictures for about a year now and says he loves wildlife photography because it’s always unpredictable and every adventure is different. His portfolio showcases a diverse range of images, including sports photos, portraits, landscapes, and, of course, wildlife.

A close-up of a Canada goose standing on grass, lit by warm sunlight, with some green vegetation on its beak and a blurred background of water.Brown was capturing photos of other, less-troublesome birds.

Three Canada geese stand on grassy ground near the edge of a blue lake, with more geese and greenery visible in the background under warm sunlight.

A close-up of a white swan with water droplets on its head and neck, showing its orange beak and black facial markings, against a blurred greenish water background.

Brown says he works as a photographer at the nearby Pleasure Beach Resort, an amusement park in Blackpool, England, but hopes to become a full-time photographer on his own. He especially enjoys sports photography, as “sports moments bring so much joy.”

While any outdoor photography always comes with some form of risk, it’s unusual, although not unprecedented, for an animal to try to swipe a photographer’s gear. A couple of months ago, PetaPixel reported about a large Kenyan lion that grabbed a photographer’s lens after they dropped it, carrying it away in its mouth. Way back in 2012, another lion grabbed a photographer’s Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR and chomped it to bits. Even less-mischievous critters can mess with gear, like this crab who stole a diver’s camera last year.

Brown says the goose mainly messed with the zippers and straps on his camera bag, and thankfully was moving the kit away from the water, rather than toward it, so no harm now “fowl.”

Close-up of a goose with dark feathers and an orange beak, facing the camera, with sunlight highlighting its face against a dark, blurred background.

After getting the goose away from his camera gear, Brown even took a lovely portrait of the thief.

“He’s lucky I did his photo for him,” Brown jokes.

Image credits: Jacob Brown (@jjb__photography)