011 (2) Hawks n' Eagles [P,R]

Well, the mystery deepens!! A property owner near the nest informed me this morning that there was a huge turn out of photographers over the weekend, laying on his lawn with their huge lenses to capture an unheard of phenomena. It has been confirmed by ornithologists, that the young chicks in this Bald Eagle nest are not eaglets, but Red-tailed Hawks!! Representatives of National Geographic were out to document this rare and never seen before case.

 

Not having seen very young eaglets myself before, I had assumed they were eaglets. After hearing this news, I googled images of young Bald eaglets and Red-tailed Hawk chicks, and even though I'm no expert, the differences are clear.

 

No one can fathom how this came to be. One theory is that the eagles brought back a female Red-tailed Hawk to eat...and that is how an egg came to be there....but then they only thought there was one Red-tailed hawk chick in the nest. Not even the property owner knew that there were two hawk chicks. (Usually, only one is up and visible at a time)!!

 

It will remain to be seen how long this facade will continue. Little time though I have, I will be carving out some more to check up on this site more frequently. (Roberts Bay, BC).

 

Published by Global BC News on the Six o' Clock News (June 8, 2017) and their website (June 8-9, 2017), and again during an update a few days later.

 

Published by Christian Sasse on his YouTube channel Sassephoto, in a documentary (Hawk raised by Eagles - The complete Story), using his extensive video footage (Nov. 8, 2017). This is the link to the news update link: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/baby-hawk-survive... This is a direct link to the documentary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0O1Dp2cocQ&feature=youtu.be

 

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs, etc. without my permission.

Done