Hello All, we had five Welsh Harlequin and two domestic mallard girls, 8 mo old, hatched by us and all laying eggs. we escort them to our small pond after they lay, then escort to the coop before dusk. They mostly stay in the pond, but sometimes forage on shore, which has always made me nervous. Today when I went to get them, I startled a hawk (red tailed or red shouldered) from a tree by the pond, the ducks all dived, which I haven’t seen before, as the hawk circled the pond then flew off. Ducks were still nervous, and my heart sank when we were missing a mallard. Found her three feet from the pond edge, body and head intact but neck vertebrae picked clean of meat, top and bottom, and some upper back plucked and muscle eaten. Abdomen/guts were not opened. Such delicate picking seemed like the hawk to me. However, I also found fresh coyote scat nearby. Anyone able to verify whether this earring pattern is most likely a hawk kill? Couldn’t stand to take a pic of her mauled body, so here’s a pic of the ducks on a happier day.