On Gabriola Island, British Columbia last month, a report emerged of strange doings at an eagle nest being monitored by GROWLS (Gabriola Rescue of Wildlife Society). Gabriola is a small island in British Columbia between Vancouver Island and mainland B.C. populated by a mix of retirees, younger folks who commute by ferry to work, artists, tourists in summer, and the various wildlife who share the island with them. Habitats on Gabriola are a mix of mid-age coniferous/deciduous forest, beaches, open fields and residential neighborhoods concentrated around the periphery of the island.
As with the rest of the Pacific Northwest, there’s a high density of Bald Eagles in that area. I don’t know where the GROWLS nestcam tree is but based on ambient people noise it’s near a residential area, which doesn’t seem to bother the eagles. The parent eagles bring in a wide assortment of prey items, not just fish. That was good news and possibly bad news for an unexpected drop-in about a month ago. On June 6, a parent eagle arrived at the nest with a live nestling Redtailed hawk to feed its own baby.
By some miracle, the abducted hawkling did not get torn into and eaten. Here’s webcam footage of that moment. Instead, the young hawk became a part of the family.
(Note: Video resolution is low, that’s just what they’ve been able to afford. They are hoping all the recent attention will generate donations to improve their setup.)
.
This isn’t the first time such a thing has happened. There are other cases documented in Washington state and Michigan, Redding, California (2019) and elsewhere in British Columbia. Currently in Ohio a hawklet is sharing a nest with two eaglets. In 2017 a baby hawk was raised alongside three eaglets in another Vancouver Island nest (Hawks in an Eagle Nest). If you’re interested in seeing the 28-minute deep dive into that case, check out this video:
.
The phenomenon of “mixed families” isn’t rare but it’s usually the consequence of “brood parasitism” aka egg-dumping: birds laying eggs in the nests of other birds to be raised by them. That includes not just the cowbirds and cuckoos, but the hundreds of species who lay eggs in the nests of their conspecifics (cavity-nesting ducks like wood ducks, goldeneyes, buffleheads, mergansers, and black-bellied whistling ducks do this a lot). Redhead hens (The Parasite Queen) are notorious for brood parasitism, both inter- and intraspecific.
But the Gabriola case is clearly an abductee being adopted. Why?
The prevailing explanation is that the live hawk nestling began begging immediately, and the adult eagle’s parental instincts overrode its predatory instincts. Even though this little hawk was much smaller, with a different coloration and voice, it was acting enough like a nestling to trigger caretaking behavior and a parent-chick bond.
Raptors form such bonds relatively easily, which wildlife rehabbers rely on to raise orphaned chicks. It’s called “cross-fostering” (for example at this Arizona raptor rehab org) and even if the chicks don’t grow up to be exactly like their foster parent, they’re a lot better off than being raised entirely by humans. They learn to be raptors by example.
This little hawk had several things going for it. First, it arrived alive, which means it was small enough to be enclosed by the eagle’s talons rather than punctured. And while shocked by the trip and change in setting, the hawkling roused itself quickly, flapping around, unlike a dead muskrat. If these eagles were having trouble finding enough food for everyone, the little hawk might be in trouble, but this nest has only one surviving eaglet this year, and the parents seem to find a variety of prey: besides fish, they bring in squirrels and other small mammals, birds, and carrion.
A very important factor contributing to the survival of this hawk and others in this situation is how assertive it is at feeding time. Doesn’t matter that it’s a quarter the size of its sibling, it muscles right up to the parent, snatching food bits aggressively. Even bits of fish, not on the usual Redtail menu. Maybe there’s something about Redtails? All the documented cases of hawk adoption by eagles are of Redtail nestlings. Granted, Redtailed hawks are very abundant and widespread, all across the continent.
Here’s the live webcam where you can watch the action — and hear the calls — of this unusual mixed family:
.
Besides the difference in diet between Bald eagles and Redtailed hawks, another complicating factor for this hawklet’s survival is its faster nesting development, since hawks are considerably smaller than eagles.
Redtail chicks sit up at 2 weeks, start “wingersizing” at 4 weeks and fledge at 8-9 weeks — around here fledging is mid-late June. They hang around the nest being fed by parents for 4 weeks then gradually learning to hunt for themselves until they disperse 8-10 weeks after fledging.
In comparison, eagle chicks sit up at 3-4 weeks, start wingersizing at 6-7 weeks, and fledge at 11-13 weeks. In the Salish Sea, eaglets fledge mid-late July, and are fed by parents for another 6 weeks. Juvenile Gabriola eagles depart the island with their parents for mainland rivers in August sometime to feed on fall salmon (Bald Eagle Timetable); adults return in October while immatures straggle back over the winter.
The Gabriola hawklet fledged on June 27 and comes and goes in the immediate vicinity of the nest (the first return was a near miss and it had to climb up the side). It has returned to the nest regularly, spending most of its time in it or on nearby branches, and calls frequently for food. Since day one, the hawklet and eaglet have gotten along well, interacting much as any set of raptor siblings. The hawklet has been demanding food and being fed since the first day too. It can continue to rely on food brought by the eagles right through the eaglet’s fledging in another few weeks, and beyond. But when the eagles and eaglet depart on migration the hawklet will be on its own.
The Gabriola hawklet has survived against the odds, and for that reason has been nicknamed Malala by webcam watchers after Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who survived being shot by a Taliban terrorist in 2012. The difference of course between these survivors is that Yousafzai was attacked out of malice while the Gabriola hawklet’s fate has been the lucky outcome of a freak natural event.
So far. All raptors face a steep learning curve their first year, an approximate 50% mortality. How will Malala learn to fend for itself? There are a couple of different views in the discussion among raptor experts. #1, capture it and use a rehab setting to teach it to hunt hawk food, or #2 hope the hawklet connects with the Redtails in the area and learns from their example. By the calls we can hear on the webcam, there are definitely Redtails in the area, though the eagles are keeping them away from this nest. Local observers will keep an eye on the hawklet.
As of yesterday, it appeared in the grainy webcam footage that Malala brought a small rodent to the nest. A successful hunt?
.
Tune in to see how this real life story develops. GROWLS Director and primary eagle monitor Sharron Palmer-Hunt will be updating reports and photos on their website, and if you’re on Facebook, their page GROWLS Eagle Nest Cam (Gabriola Rescue Of Wildlife Society) has lots of clips, screengrabs, and discussion by cam followers.
Dawn Chorus is now open for your birdy observations of the week.