The eagles Parham photographed no doubt brought the Red-tail to their nest intending not to raise it, but to feed it to their own nestling. However, when it was deposited into the aerie, the hungry and disoriented fledgling immediately began begging for food alongside the eaglets. The confused parent eagles mistook the hawk as one of their own and began treating it in kind. Though surprising, such behavior can occur when the wrong species ends up in a nest. That’s because most adult birds cannot recognize their own chicks from others—a vulnerability that brood parasites exploit by laying eggs in other species’ nests.
And yet they didn’t attack it, kick it out, etc. They just basically ignored it do death. It’s like they just chose not to acknowledge the whole thing.
It had to grow awfully big before they figured it out too, they should have just stuck it out at that point.
Yes, that’s my wonder. There must have been some reason.
I posted a new comment with 3 article links (with some neat pics!) with some info that may fill us in on what could have happened based on other similar cases. You may want to give those a read.
I put it up in a new comment so others have a good chance to see it too, so I’m replying here so you get a notification.
That’s awesome. Napoleon complex in birds. I noted the author encouraged us not to anthropomorphize the birds, and yet interspecies compassion has been documented, even predator to prey. Birds are incredibly intelligent, and no doubt, instinct probably did play a large role; and also acknowledge that a great part of intellectual development also includes emotional intelligence. Our current generations may not know. If our species lasts long enough, future generations may.
Thanks for specifically letting me know. I appreciate it very much.
Bird have been around much longer than we have, 150,000,000 vs >200,000, so they have had time to learn and work through more than we could ever dream. We would barely recognize life 100-200 years ago, and who can say we’re we’ll be in another few hundred. We could be nurturing foster babies from other worlds and learning who knows what from them! 😁
You are one of my frequent commenters, so I need to foster that as well!
I enjoy thoughtful posts. You make them. Thank you.