A month ago I posted this photo of a Wood Duck hen and 23 of her 25 freshly hatched ducklings. Today, four ducklings are left on our pond. The neighborhood has fox and coyote, owls and hawks. The predators are nature's way of maintaining balanced populations. If all Wood Ducks -- or any species of duck -- raised all hatchlings to adulthood, we'd have way too many ducks.