Tuesday, 4:03 PM, 25 May 2010
Temperature: 60 F, cloudy with showers

Our ducks range widely, which has made it difficult to keep tabs on their numbers, but at last we are sure that they are suffering predation.

We managed to spot a pawprint in a muddy patch which clearly showed us what we are up against: a raccoon. This is both good news and bad. Good news, because our losses to raptors (which are a tougher proposition, with a view to prevention) have been minimal, if any, and bad news because raccoons are notoriously sneaky. We don't want to leave poisoned materials around, and raccoons are very good at avoiding, escaping and defeating traps, so our remaining option (since the ducks are very hard to keep confined) is hunting.

At this point we have been weighing our option. A farmer armed with a bow didn't manage to spot the raccoon at night, but by the same token, there were no losses that night. We shall keep trying.