Your Nikon is impressive.
Stupid hawks eat too much on my farm!
My cousin was a teacher at an elementary school that had a courtyard in the center. Several Mallards nested there. All the teachers thought it was a great educational opportunity to watch 30+ ducklings hatch, until the hawks came in. Traumatized the little kids. So he calls a local nature center. They said if he could find a farm with a big pond to release them, they would raise them. So we agreed. They released 17 (that's all that was left) mid to late summer. We were given strict orders to not interact with them so they wouldn't become tame. There was one big male that kept to himself.Very antisocial. There was one that had a limp. My husband was out mowing the trails when he found the remains of one. It was the one with the limp. He didn't give me the details. He didn't want me traumatized. We had our grandsons over that weekend. The nine year old found one and told grandpa, "A bird blew up!" Then, everyday we were finding the remains of these ducks that literally looked like they blew up. Finally got down to the last duck, the larger unsocial duck. We named him Donald. We still left him alone. Every day we waited to find him dead.Then one day this little female shows up. She was a happy go lucky thing and Donald tolerated her. She was, however, already people friendly. We named her Daisy. So we decided to adopt these two. Hubby went out and got wild bird seed. They liked that. Donald wasn't very sharing when it came to the seed. He would peck at her. Husband renamed him, D&#! Head. Every day we came home from work, the first thing we did was check to make use We had ducks. One day Daisy was missing. We grabbed the bag of seed and started walking the creek that runs behind the pond and through our property. I started calling, "Daisy, where you at?" And give the bag a little shake. My husband says, "She isn't going to answer you! She's not that tame." I didn't stop. We went past the pond and behind the cemetery. I hollered, "Daisy, where you at?" And shook the bag. And all of the sudden we heard, "quack quack quack quack quack!" We stopped in our tracks in total disbelief! I continued to yell. She continued to answer. We found her unharmed, so we left her a pile of bird seed and hoped she would make it back to the pond. A few days later she did it again. So I called. She answered and came paddling down the creek. We were hooked.
Had the boys over again. They were fishing with minnows. Daisy was all under their feet. Finally one of them drops a minnow. She snatched it. That's when we learned why she liked the creek.
One day hubby was out in the barn. She came up for a visit. He decided to see if she liked night crawlers. Loved them! So that became a thing. Donald, aka DH, saw that he was missing out, so he ventured to the barn for a worm. Tables turned. Daisy wasn't about to share! We had a blast with those two! Then one day we looked out across the pond and saw the remains of Daisy, entrails, feet, Bill, and feathers. We were bummed. Even could tell Donald was bummed. He started staying close to the house side of the pond. Then we woke up to find his remains right out the back door. Those stupid hawks killed 18 ducks in a month and a half! I hate hawks!
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