Bald Eagle family accidentally adopts Red-Tailed Hawk baby.

[Czarcasm]

@FloatyGimpy

Red-tailed hawks mostly eat small mammals like mice and shrews and small rabbits while Bald Eagles mostly eat fish, small and medium sized mammals like rabbits and raccoons and carrion.

This hawk is going to have a hell of an ambitious appetite.

[FloatyGimpy]

@Czarcasm

This hawk is going to have a hell of an ambitious appetite.

It might end up being to his advantage to have a wider range of things he likes to eat. He might follow his parents down to the beach at low tide and wander around eating things he finds. Or he might just completely lose his eagle upbringing and go full hawk. It would be very interesting to find out. Though, I don’t know how the bird-watchers would be able to keep track.

[Tranquilis]

@FloatyGimpy

It might end up being to his advantage to have a wider range of things he likes to eat. He might follow his parents down to the beach at low tide and wander around eating things he finds. Or he might just completely lose his eagle upbringing and go full hawk. It would be very interesting to find out. Though, I don’t know how the bird-watchers would be able to keep track.

Banding.

Though it would be an ambitious ornithologist who wants to band nearly-fledged eaglets in a well-attended nest.

[Rysto]

@FloatyGimpy

Red-tailed hawks mostly eat small mammals like mice and shrews and small rabbits while Bald Eagles mostly eat fish, small and medium sized mammals like rabbits and raccoons and carrion.

He’s going to be absolutely unbearable when he gets married, isn’t he? “Mice, again? Honey, why don’t you ever serve salmon like my mom did?”

[Nawth_Chucka]

@Tranquilis

Banding.

Though it would be an ambitious ornithologist who wants to band nearly-fledged eaglets in a well-attended nest.

It would require a flexible bear-proof suit at the very least.

[Little_Pig]

Any odds being offered on whether the little guy ends up as a meal or makes it out of Dodge?

[FloatyGimpy]

@Little_Pig

Any odds being offered on whether the little guy ends up as a meal or makes it out of Dodge?

At this point I expect it would be highly unlikely that he gets eaten unless something catastrophic happens like the parents die and the babies are starving. He’s being fed enough to grow normally and, at this point, I expect the rest of the fam don’t remember him not being there.

Also birds lay eggs a few days apart so it’s normal to have large, medium and small babies all at the same time.

Although he’s younger, he’ll fledge earlier than the eagles so he should be away from the dangerous wing flapping in a week or so.

It’s really an amazing occurrence

[Sunny_Daze]

Very cool. Thank you for sharing this!

[Tranquilis]

@Rysto

He’s going to be absolutely unbearable when he gets married, isn’t he? “Mice, again? Honey, why don’t you ever serve salmon like my mom did?”

Imagine the kids!
“MoooOOOmmm…! Dad’s serving us weird food again!”

[Little_Pig]

@FloatyGimpy

At this point I expect it would be highly unlikely that he gets eaten unless something catastrophic happens like the parents die and the babies are starving. He’s being fed enough to grow normally and, at this point, I expect the rest of the fam don’t remember him not being there.

Also birds lay eggs a few days apart so it’s normal to have large, medium and small babies all at the same time.

Although he’s younger, he’ll fledge earlier than the eagles so he should be away from the dangerous wing flapping in a week or so.

It’s really an amazing occurrence

Thanks FloatyGimpy. I haven’t found a link from the article on how we can be kept up to date. I was hoping Kerry Finley, the avid birder and designated caretaker for the Shoal Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary would put up a link.

[CheshireKat]

There are videos on YouTube:

June 2: View of all the youngsters
June 10: Close-up of the red-tailed hawk being fed

Thank you FloatyGimpy, this is amazing!

[Tranquilis]

Wow! It’s really getting its fair share!

[carnivorousplant]

Are there just the hawk and one eagle baby on 10 June?

[CheshireKat]

There is an on-going thread about the nest HERE.

As of June 15 there were still three eaglets and the hawklet.

[FloatyGimpy]

@CheshireKat

There is an on-going thread about the nest HERE.

As of June 15 there were still three eaglets and the hawklet.

I just started following that thread today. I didn’t want to know what was happening in case the little guy had become dinner but I decided to find out if he was still alive and low and behold - he’s alive and thriving!

In the videos you can see how full his crop is. He seems to almost have an advantage over his siblings, he’s smaller and quicker and can more easily grab the bits of meat. And the big guys seem to see the small bits of meat as not really worth it so he’s not really competing with them.

I think he has a good chance now for sure.

[carnivorousplant]

@CheshireKat

There is an on-going thread about the nest HERE.

As of June 15 there were still three eaglets and the hawklet.

Thanks!

[carnivorousplant]

I just had a horrible thought.
Do you suppose Mama eagle fed the hawk any of his siblings?

[FloatyGimpy]

@carnivorousplant

I just had a horrible thought.
Do you suppose Mama eagle fed the hawk any of his siblings?

There has been speculation that he wasn’t the only chick from his nest slated for dinner :eek:

[carnivorousplant]

Nature red in tooth and claw.
-Charles Darwin.

Oye.
-Carnivorousplant.

[Mighty_Girl]

That stupid, drunken stork did it again.