Duck Duck Hawk Goose
A short tale of how work in my office came to a complete standstill on Friday, thanks to a hawk, some ducklings, and a couple of sassy Canada geese:
There is a large pond in front of the building I currently work in. Various wild creatures live there. The folks who are lucky enough to sit next to one of the windows get to watch the animals all year. Mid-morning on Friday, a very large hawk flew by the office and landed on a tree close by the pond. I think it might have been a Cooper's Hawk. I just happened to be standing by one of the windows while I was waiting for someone to get off the phone. When she hung up her phone, I pointed out the hawk. "Oh my god! The ducklings!" was her reply. "Where are the ducklings?"
Ducklings? Turns out that a couple of ducks with a bunch of baby ducks had taken up residence in the pond.
My co-worker called another co-worker over. "The hawk is back!"
"Oh my god!" says co-worker number two. "Where are the ducklings?" [Apparently these two co-workers felt a great deal of affection for these ducklings.]
More co-workers started to assemble behind us. We spotted the ducklings, all bunched together on the side of the pond. Co-worker #1 told me that the previous year, she had watched a mother duck with 10 ducklings swim across the pond, but when the mother duck returned, she only had two duckings left.
"That hawk does look very well fed," I noted. I rubbed my tummy and say, "Mmmm, duck." Co-worker #1 was not amused, but someone else in the growing mass of people behind us chimed in that duck was delicious.
I took a great deal of wicked satisfaction in pointing out that the hawk was looking at the ducklings. Half of the people said, "Oh no!" The other half were clearly rooting for the hawk.
The duck parents, proving once and for all that ducks must really be stupid, starting swimming across the pond right in front of the hawk with the baby ducks all trailing behind. So adorable. So tasty. So doomed. The hawk turned its head and watched them swim by. It was probably thinking, "I'll start out with that little one, then get the next one and the next one and the next one..." Someone actually said, "Oh no, duck! Go back!"
Now mind you, we weren't the only ones watching these clueless ducks. Two Canada geese were also watching the ducks and, as it turned out, they were also watching the hawk. Just as the last little duckling swam by right under the hawk, the two geese shot out onto the pond and swam up behind the ducks. The geese stopped swimming when they reached the last little duckling. One of the geese looked up in the tree at the hawk. The geese and hawk had a micro-staredown for about 2 seconds and then the hawk flew away. Which just goes to prove, by the way, that hawks may be cool apex predators and all that, but geese are the true badasses of the bird world.
Once DUCKLING PERIL!OMG!1! was over thanks to your friend and mine, the Canada Geese, everyone dispersed and went back to work.
This entry was originally posted at http://saraqael.dreamwidth.org/11268.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
There is a large pond in front of the building I currently work in. Various wild creatures live there. The folks who are lucky enough to sit next to one of the windows get to watch the animals all year. Mid-morning on Friday, a very large hawk flew by the office and landed on a tree close by the pond. I think it might have been a Cooper's Hawk. I just happened to be standing by one of the windows while I was waiting for someone to get off the phone. When she hung up her phone, I pointed out the hawk. "Oh my god! The ducklings!" was her reply. "Where are the ducklings?"
Ducklings? Turns out that a couple of ducks with a bunch of baby ducks had taken up residence in the pond.
My co-worker called another co-worker over. "The hawk is back!"
"Oh my god!" says co-worker number two. "Where are the ducklings?" [Apparently these two co-workers felt a great deal of affection for these ducklings.]
More co-workers started to assemble behind us. We spotted the ducklings, all bunched together on the side of the pond. Co-worker #1 told me that the previous year, she had watched a mother duck with 10 ducklings swim across the pond, but when the mother duck returned, she only had two duckings left.
"That hawk does look very well fed," I noted. I rubbed my tummy and say, "Mmmm, duck." Co-worker #1 was not amused, but someone else in the growing mass of people behind us chimed in that duck was delicious.
I took a great deal of wicked satisfaction in pointing out that the hawk was looking at the ducklings. Half of the people said, "Oh no!" The other half were clearly rooting for the hawk.
The duck parents, proving once and for all that ducks must really be stupid, starting swimming across the pond right in front of the hawk with the baby ducks all trailing behind. So adorable. So tasty. So doomed. The hawk turned its head and watched them swim by. It was probably thinking, "I'll start out with that little one, then get the next one and the next one and the next one..." Someone actually said, "Oh no, duck! Go back!"
Now mind you, we weren't the only ones watching these clueless ducks. Two Canada geese were also watching the ducks and, as it turned out, they were also watching the hawk. Just as the last little duckling swam by right under the hawk, the two geese shot out onto the pond and swam up behind the ducks. The geese stopped swimming when they reached the last little duckling. One of the geese looked up in the tree at the hawk. The geese and hawk had a micro-staredown for about 2 seconds and then the hawk flew away. Which just goes to prove, by the way, that hawks may be cool apex predators and all that, but geese are the true badasses of the bird world.
Once DUCKLING PERIL!OMG!1! was over thanks to your friend and mine, the Canada Geese, everyone dispersed and went back to work.
This entry was originally posted at http://saraqael.dreamwidth.org/11268.html. Please comment there using OpenID.