every spring one of the area pond female ducks will nest in my neighbor’s hedges, she’s doing so now, however some animal(s?) may have tried to attack her because I notice this morning her left leg propped up near her side, thus she cannot walk (i’ve called park ranger but not sure when he’ll get here)… I know there are raccoons in the area as i’ve seen them at night, but also a wild cat lives in my backyard and i’m praying the poor duck wasn’t harmed by this cat, but rather the raccoon… it matters because if likely it was the cat, then I’ll have to work harder at trapping it and taking it to the Humane society where it’ll have 3 days max before they put it to sleep.
My gf has suffered losses to her chicken and duck population over the years. Where the attacker has been identified, coons, foxes, cats, and a dog have been to blame.
Raccoons will definately eat a duck.
whoa! that’s frightening! The park ranger showed up and he said the duck’s leg doesn’t look too bad, “possibly broken so pop back into place, or may require a splint.” He also took her eggs with them to the rehabilitation center in the hopes the mother will continue nesting over them until they hatch (any day).
Also, he suspected possums or raccoons.
You realize that wild ducks will stand on one leg and tuck the other one against their body for warmth, right? It’s quite possible that the duck was uninjured. If you saw it attempting to walk and unable to do so, then ignore this, but if it was just standing there on one leg, that is completely normal behavior.
It couldn’t walk and when she tried to put the injured leg down, it looked twisted. The park ranger knew instantly that the leg was injured, so couldn’t swim or protect itself tonight when the predator(s) return.
Gotcha, just wanted to be sure he wasn’t chasing a healthy bird. Hope she and her ducklings do fine!