[Mnbird] Red-tailed Hawk and Ducklings

[rvjesse at aol.com]

Today while golfing in Olmsted county a mother mallard was escorting across the golf course around six ducklings to a new pond.  A Red-tailed hawk saw this and made a pass with the mother duck raising up to defend.  The hawk went to a tree and then came back and picked off one of the ducklings.  The mother and the rest of the clan kept going.  The Red-tail consumed the catch near the kill spot and then went after more but I think it was to late as the ducks were going under a fence into the pond. 
While tough to watch what struck me was the Red-tail could have caught and taken them all with a few passes and ate later.  Instead the hawk did it as I described, consuming the first kill first. 
Robert Jessen
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