Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Raptor Wednesday

Well, energy makes the world go ’round.

The transmutation of duckling into hawk… this mature Red-tailed Hawk made two passes over the edge of the Sylvan Water recently, to the accompaniment of loud duck squawking. The second pass was successful.

This was the other Red-tailed that showed up soon afterwards. No duckling on the menu for this one, at least while I was around. On Tuesday, I’d counted fourteen ducklings on Sylvan with a female Mallard. There were none after this incident on Thursday. On Wednesday, Green-Wood staff and an animal rescuer got a bunch of ducklings out of a storm drain and released them in Dell Water.

Here’s one of them. It’s tough out there for ducklings.

mthew

3 responses to “Raptor Wednesday”

  1. Sherry Felix

    A fellow has to eat. Poor little Ducky.

    Reply
  2. Chuck McAlexander

    It comes as a big surprise to many new birdets that nature is not a cartoon replete with friendly, dancing carnivores celebrating friendship with species really on their menu. A friend once told me he totally believed and understood the biblical reference to the lion lying down with the lamb. All that is required is frequent replacement of the lamb.

    Reply
  3. Raptor Wednesday | Backyard and Beyond

    […] Published May 25, 2022 Uncategorized Leave a Comment This young Red-tailed Hawk, the only nestling, evidently, is roaring along. You can hear the bird calling from some distance. This time, as it happened, there was food already in the nest. Looks like rat is a major part of the diet. Two hours after the first two photos, one of the parents was flying in another rodent kill. I suspect there’s some duck in that nestling as well. These two were all that were left of the six I saw two days previous. (Last years, I saw a Red-tailed grab a Mallard duckling.) […]

    Reply

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