A red-tailed hawklet that was supposed to be an eaglet91裸聊视频檚 dinner has inadvertently become its adopted sibling on a B.C. Gulf Island off Nanaimo.

Pam McCartney, communications director for Gabriola Rescue of Wildlife Society, said the hawklet was dropped in a Gabriola Island eagle91裸聊视频檚 nest June 4. GROWLS keeps a webcam trained on the nest so the society and members of the public can watch a pair of eagles raise their young each year.

McCartney said she couldn91裸聊视频檛 tell at first what the female eagle had dropped in the nest.

91裸聊视频淪he had something kind of big in her talons that looked limp and dead,91裸聊视频� McCartney said. 91裸聊视频淲as it a bird or a fish? What the heck has she got there?91裸聊视频�

When the eagle dropped it in the nest the hawklet started moving.

91裸聊视频淚 thought, 91裸聊视频榦h, my goodness it91裸聊视频檚 alive. We91裸聊视频檙e going to have to see something bad,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淪o, that was hours of anxiety just watching what was going to happen.91裸聊视频�

The little hawk was much smaller than the eaglet it was intended as a meal for, but instead of becoming dinner, over time it started snuggling up to the eaglet. The mother eagle kept coming back to the nest, as if to see if its eaglet was going eat the little hawk, but it never prodded the eaglet to move the situation along.

McCartney said the hawk must have been snatched out of a nest by the eagle. It was a rainy and cold and the hawklet, apparently fearful, would hide in the corner of the nest when the mother eagle was there. When the mother eagle would leave, though, the little hawk would snuggle up toward its eaglet nest mate for warmth.

91裸聊视频淏y the time nightfall happened, mom was brooding over both of them and sheltering them both from the rain,91裸聊视频� McCartney said. 91裸聊视频淚t made me very happy.91裸聊视频�

Within the next couple of days the hawklet started cheeping for food and before long the female and male eagle were both feeding the little hawk.

91裸聊视频淣ow they91裸聊视频檙e like best friends,91裸聊视频� McCartney said. 91裸聊视频淭he hawk91裸聊视频檚 probably going to fly out of there soon, but they91裸聊视频檙e a happy family.91裸聊视频�

She said the nest site has been there for at least 10 years and the current nest was built by the eagles about five years ago after the previous one collapsed.

She said the hawk was probably dropped in the nest alive in an attempt to teach the eaglet how to kill its own food, but the plan didn91裸聊视频檛 work out, possibly because the eaglet had a sibling that died and McCartney theorized the eaglet might have associated it with its former nest mate. That bird was pecked at by its sibling and its parents stopped feeding it. It died around mid May.

McCartney said the proper term for a baby hawk is 91裸聊视频榚yas,91裸聊视频� but she prefers to use the layperson91裸聊视频檚 term 91裸聊视频榟awklet.91裸聊视频�

GROWLS members have named the little hawk Malala after Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for girls91裸聊视频� education and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was shot by a Taliban gunman in 2012. The name Malala, McCartney said, has become synonymous with 91裸聊视频榮urvivor.91裸聊视频�

How the little hawk will fare when it leaves the nest remains to be seen. McCartney said red-tailed hawks in the wild are a delicacy for eagles.

91裸聊视频淪o if this hawklet is flying away as a juvenile, thinking eagles are its friends, it could be a quick demise for that poor little hawk,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檒l never know.91裸聊视频�

To watch the nest on the GROWLS eagle cam, visit . To learn more about GROWLS and its programs, visit .

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