Sometimes you plan adventures, and sometimes you run into them. Today, at Pedder Bay RV Resort and Marina, I was a spectator to an amazing show of tenacity, power, and maybe even compassion.
For the ten days since Rocky Point Bird Observatory started this year's migration monitoring season, there has been a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk begging almost constantly from the hillside across from the station. I have tried, without success, to find the bird--until today!
On a low branch of a tall snag, sat a recently fledged hawk, screaming for an adult to feed it. At the top of the snag sat an apparent parent. But it was not a Red-tailed Hawk. It was an adult Bald Eagle. Every time the hawk called, it looked up--way up!
The behaviour made me think about a young Red-tailed Hawk that was raised by Bald Eagles in North Saanich in 2017. Two hawk chicks were brought to the nest by the eagles as food for their three young eaglets. While one fulfilled that purpose, the other started begging and was raised to fledging and beyond by the eagles. Full story here.
I watched for more than half an hour before the eagle finally left in the direction of the marina. After one more series of calls, the hawk stopped begging. About 15 minutes later, the hawk left the tree, speeding towards the marina and resumed calling out. I could hear eagles calling, too, and raced towards the dock myself, to find two adult Bald Eagles standing on a log, one with a recently acquired fish head (courtesy of a boater). Just a couple of meters away, there stood the young hawk, fully engaged in begging once more.
Once it became apparent that the adult was not going to feed the hawk, the small and hungry raptor decided to go after the scraps itself. I'll note here that it is not usual for Red-tailed Hawks to feed on fish scraps--unless that is what they are used to. Another point in favour of these eagles being the adoptive parents of the hawk. However, as it approached the eagle, the larger bird attempted to chase it off, and the second eagle jumped up to join the commotion.
The young hawk was unceremoniously dumped off the back of the log and that was the end of the story. Not! Only a few minutes later, the hawk popped back onto the log, this time with even more of an attitude.
How brave/foolish/hungry does a young hawk have to be to fight for scraps from TWO Bald Eagles? This much, it appears!
Oof! With full contact, talon to chest, it looked like whatever relationship these birds might have had to this point, it was now definitely over. The Red-tailed Hawk wasn't giving up easily though.
The young hawk, now on its back, didn't stand a chance. Nature can be cruel!
Instead of dealing a death blow, the adult placed its feet on the ground, allowing the hawk to roll off the log and back into the water. The other eagle joined the first, and both yelled at the hawk for a couple of minutes. By this time, surely the hawk had learned a valuable lesson. Or maybe not...
The hawk still wanted the scraps and jumped back up on the log to get them. Was it shock? Disgust at the hawk's persistence? Parental pride? We'll never know, but the adult eagles left the hawk to get what it could.
I left the scene with the young hawk drying out its wings, and amazingly, begging for food again! I couldn't help but wonder if it had received a lethal blow in the fracas, so I went back to check on it about 20 minutes later. It was nowhere to be seen, but from the trees at least 100m away, there was the unmistakable, incessant call of a begging juvenile Red-tailed Hawk!
The eagles could have taken that hawk out easily, but they didn't. We can't know what they were thinking throughout this encounter, but I'll be watching for more interactions between them this week.
