Mallard Duck Question

[Mallard Lvr]

I have a pair of mallard ducks that started coming into my yard this spring. Started feeding them corn and offering them water. The male no longer comes but the female does daily for a bath in a 3 gallon bowl and to eat. My question is when I got home today I found pieces of eggs shell in the water bowl and a dead duckling. I think some yoke was in the bottom of the bowl also. The bowel is 3 or 4 inches tall so I have no idea how this happened. I do have other bird feeders out so other birds visit as well. Can anyone explain this? Thanks!

 

[coach723]

Just a guess, but I'd say likely a predator found the nest. Racoons will wash their food in water, so maybe a raccoon. Mallards nest on the ground, so easy access if it's found. Probably found just as they were hatching out, or before, as the mother will start moving them around pretty soon after hatch.

 

[Mallard Lvr]

The hatchling was not mauled in any way. I haven't seen raccoons in my area and I have lived here 13 years. I thought raccoons were nocturnal because this happened during daylight hours. I also live in a residential area. Could it still have been a raccoon? I do have opposum at night, squirrel, chipmunks, rabbits and also blue jays, black birds, occasionally a hawk. Hate to think it but wondering if someone was just being cruel.