On Fri, 21 Jun 1996, Robert Trumble wrote:

[snip...}

>... heron and eagle are fish eaters but did they get the baby goslings and
> ducks, do you suppose? Last year there were at least three or more sets
> of mallard ducklings but this year I saw only one. And this past spring
> there was much pairing off of mallards yet only one set of babies which
> now appear to be gone. Any aswers?

Cindy--

I saw a great blue heron down a good sized vole last year, so
I'd guess ducklings might be a menu item for them as well.
Interesting picture, BTW, on p. 145 of Seattle Audubon Society's
The Trailside Series book *Amphibians of Washington and Oregon*,
by William P. Leonard et al, of a bullfrog swallowing a duckling..
they are formidable predators and likely suspects in your scenario..

re: Eagle predation--- A good friend who lives right on Mud Bay
here in Olympia watched a pair of eagles predate an entire
Mallard brood. They were swimming behind the mother duck when
one eagle would stoop them causing them all to submerge. When
they surfaced the second eagle picked off the last ducking in
the column and carried it to a pole and ate it. The two eagles
according to my friend, who has pictures of this event, albeit
rather fuzzy and far away, kept this up until they had cleaned
out the entire brood of 9 or so ducklings..they did not take
the adult duck..

With raccoon predation added to the scene and other predators as
well, it's really anybody's guess as to what happened to the
ducklings...


Tom