CSI: Duck Pond

Yesterday, I had to arrive at work at 5PM, rather than 9PM... we were hosting an event at our main office and the guy who usually works 5PM-9PM had to work the event, basically making sure things went smoothly and locking up after the event caterers left. One of the day shift workers on site told me that there was a duck carcass on site, on the verge of a path that goes around our pond. Checking out the location he indicated, I noted with relief that the dead duck was a male mallard, rather than one of our resident wood ducks:

The culprit was one of our resident red-tailed hawks. While my co-worker didn't witness the murther, he was lucky enough to see the hawk feasting on the carcass. When it had finished eating the duck's prodigious flight muscles, it flew ever so silently off to perch in a nearby tree.