Bald Eagles adopt and feed baby hawk as one of their own

“A baby hawk is being raised by an eagle. Probably brought into the nest as a food source and then adopted and raised.”

 A bald eagle raising its own offspring has taken another species under its wing and the mixed family has left bird experts baffled.

The rare wildlife drama plays out with a baby red-tailed hawk appearing to live in harmony with a male and female bald eagle and three eaglets.

Eagles are known to eat smaller, weaker birds like hawks; that’s why the eagle’s nest in a Sidney neighbourhood is drawing a lot of attention from birdwatchers.

“This rates as the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in the world of birds of prey,” biologist David Bird said.

Bird is a retired university professor and board member for the Hancock Wildlife Foundation. He happens to live near the eagle’s nest in question.

“These parents essentially adopted this little guy and as they kept feeding him with lots of food, he’s grown up a little bit now and he’ll be leaving the nest in about a week and a half,” Bird said.

How this happened remains a mystery. Similar occurrences have been recorded but only a handful of times, according to Bird.