Death From Above

Yes, it is tragic. After Duck Force 9 made it through the winter without any attrition (expected coyotes to hit in February), and they were roaming far and wide to free range quite well, disaster struck within a few minutes span of time.

All that was left of three ducks was one corpse from the belly up. Well, and a whole lot of feathers. Eagles are the suspects. I envision it was Mama, Papa, and Baby Eagle as two bodies were gone altogether, but the third was hacked off from midsection down (probably all the younger eagle could carry).

And, it happened fast! My wife saw them all at the pond behind their shed when she left for town. Coming back 20 minutes later she commented that there seemed to be a dead duck in the yard.

Forensics indicates that the first got it right next to the pond. The second heading towards the front of the shed (trying to get away). And, the last right in front of the shed. The remaining six were, of course, in the shed quivering in fear.

So, now we need to be careful of "Death From Above". Losing 3 ducks in a few minutes time is one thing, if it happens again and then again, there will be no more ducks!

So Duck force 9 (scratch that), uh, 6, only gets out for a brief period of time each day while there is a Guard to watch out.

First day we did this, my wife cried out an alert to an aerial predator! But, it was a hawk, and, I think, way too small to threaten a duck.

Oh well, sigh, such is country life...