Hawks have babies too

At the Washington Post is a heart-warming story about office workers saving ducklings from a hawk.

The ducklings were small and fuzzy and brown. The hawk was big and slick and hook-beaked. There were 11 ducklings, some witnesses originally thought, but later only 10 could be found. So the theory developed that either one had been eaten or that the original number was a miscount, which was an explanation that everyone liked better. Ten ducklings became the official story.

The 10 ducklings were toddling around the corner of 18th and F streets NW on Wednesday morning, having escaped their nest in the shrubbery outside of the stately DACOR Bacon House Foundation. Their mother was nowhere in sight.

The hawk was perched on the green awning of the House, and most everyone agreed that you could tell by its strutting and beady eyes that it was up to no good, no good at all.

They took the ducklings to a nearby pond and turned them loose near a "pair" of mallards. Of course, that drake won't stick around (they don't), and I have to wonder if the duck will raise some stray ducklings instead of incubating her own clutch.

But the main thing is: why do these people immediately characterize the hawk as evil? What do they expect hawks to eat? Not to mention, do they want to be hip deep in ducks? 11 ducklings per pair every year? None of them being eaten? Yikes.