Some of my Canadian friends were watching the news on their smart phones when a story about a bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk was posted along with nest cam footage. They thought of me and that I might be interested.

So tonight, I read the story two of my friends sent and watched the attached YouTube video that brought the saga to life! The bald eagle had snatched a red-tailed hawk nestling from its nest, brought it to the eagle nest as dinner for her eaglet. The red-tail was summarily dropped into the nest for the eaglet’s meal. A miracle was about to take place, because the eaglet did not kill the red-tail nestling, nor did the bald eagle parents. Instead, they adopted the red-tail nestling.

The story is interesting and fascinating. In addition, it such a rare occurrence that I decided to summarize the presentation by CBC Radio as posted on their news site and provide enough information so you could access the webcam footage to see the story unfold for yourself.

The story takes place near Nanaimo in British Columbia, Canada, not very far from us here in Washington. Webcam footage captured the mother eagle dropping the red-tailed hawk in its nest early in June. According to ornithologist, Dr. David Bird, the little hawk saved its life by bouncing up and began begging for food immediately. Pam McCartney, a volunteer with the wildlife organization Growls, tells the story.

She was watching a live stream of the nest-cam when the hawk was dropped into the eagle nest by the mamma. She notes, that to her surprise “neither the eaglet nor the parent attacked the little hawk.” At first, she noted, that two babies kept their distance, staying one on each side of the nest. Furthermore, mamma eagle virtually ignored the little hawk.

However, by nightfall the adoption had begun. The mother eagle was “feeding and fussing over both baby birds equally.” They had become a family. The eagle parents lost one for their chicks just a few weeks before. It is thought that the little hawk had become its replacement.

This phenomenon also occurred once before. In 2017, “a pair of bald eagles nesting in Sidney, British Columbia raised a red-tail hawk as their own” (CBC.ca). Dr. Bird reports that in this case the hawk survived and fledged but it required some assistance from scientists to have access to the kind of prey it eats because the red-tailed hawk’s diet differs from that of the bald eagle. Dr. Bird indicates that the red-tail raised by eagles in 2017 is in excellent health as of a few days ago. He goes on to say, that the biggest challenge for the bird is to learn how to hunt for his typical food such as voles and mice.

It seems that these challenges will also have to be faced by the red-tailed hawk raised by a pair of eagles in 2022. Who would have guessed that a pair of bald eagles would adopt a red-tailed hawk nestling? After all, red-tailed hawks are often bald eagle prey! Who would have guessed that a red-tail nestling could survive in a nest of its natural predators?

The wildlife organization, Growls, webcam can be found by going to www.growls.ca. Choose eagle Nest Cam under News, Articles and Photos. It is the live view. You will see everything as it happens. It is fascinating. You can find the article I have summarized and the YouTube of the story of the adoption by clicking on www.cbc.ca/1.6495246.

Happy birding!