Red-tailed hawk in Schenley Park, 14 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

17 November 2025

In Schenley Park …

A Hawk:

My friend Andrea and I were walking up the Lower Trail on Friday morning when she told me to pause. Right in front of us was a red-tailed hawk at eye level, hunting for breakfast. The chipmunks and squirrels laid low. When we walked past he flew up to the mossy branch pictured at top and resumed his hunt. All of these photos were taken with my cellphone; he was that close.

A Croc:

On Thursday the wind was so strong that it blew all the duckweed to the east end of Panther Hollow Lake, making it easier for ducks and geese to eat it. While Canada geese browsed the duckweed I noticed a small pink something … ? … near them. Shadows were in the way.

Canada geese eating duckweed on Panther Hollow Lake, 13 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

When the shadows were gone it was easy to see that the small pink thing was a child’s Croc. Someone went home without her shoe.

Canada goose near the pink Croc floating on Panther Hollow Lake, 13 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

The Odd Duck:

Also on Thursday, Charity Kheshgi and I counted 3 mallards and The Odd Duck. She was paired with a male mallard so he knows she’s his type but what type is she?

A pair of mallards with The Odd Duck in the background, Panther Hollow Lake, 13 Nov 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

The Odd Duck with her mate in the background, Panther Hollow Lake, 13 Nov 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

The Odd Duck, Panther Hollow Lake, 13 Nov 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

We speculated that she was an American black duck X domestic duck hybrid, but in fact there are domestic mallard breeds that approach or match this plumage:

• chocolate brown back, wings and head
• warmer brown speckled undertail coverts and sides
• white chest.

My guess is she’s a domestic duck escapee, perhaps a white domestic duck mish-mashed with a Dark Campbell or Cayuga Duck. She has doppelgängers in Kitchener, Ontario in 2018 and 2011.

Domestic mallard, Kitchener, Ontario, July 2018 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Domestic mallard, Kitchener, Ontario, Feb 2011 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)