Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

During a heavy rainstorm two days ago I noticed a female Mallard walking through the parking lot toward a retention pond. On her heel were 6 ducklings, all in a row.

The rain let up as I was heading home and I stopped for a couple of pictures.



The next day, someone mentioned that there were 3 ducklings. I mentioned that that makes 3 less. We have a healthy population of Red-tailed Hawks in the office area and I am sure the ducklings make an easy catch.

Today, a co-worker came over to me to say she thought there was a hawk that might be injured since it wasn't flying. It was just standing on the grass near the pond. I looked out and saw that it actually appeared to be eating something.

Not a duckling. Looked more like a lizard. I headed down and got a couple of shots. Other people were watching it outside by now. This juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk didn't seem to notice.



I followed it around for a while, taking more photos, and it soon flew to the opposite side of the building.



As for the fate of the remaining ducklings...time will tell.