Eagle Adoption

               Wildlife experts say the discovery of a bald eagle feeding and caring for a baby red hawk on Vancouver Island is one of just a handful of such cases. The hawk’s mother is suspected to have left the egg in the nest in Sidney before being scared off or killed by the larger raptor. David Bird of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation says it’s a rare case of the eagle’s hormonal drive to kill and eat the baby hawk being overridden by the hormonal drive to feed and raise it. Bird says the hawk has a fighting chance if grows big enough to leave the nest — but first has to survive a couple of weeks with bigger and older eaglets likely to devour it if food supplies get short and they get hungry.