The young red-tailed hawk that appears to have been fostered by a family of five bald eagles in Sidney took its first short flight Friday.

Ann Nightingale, of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory and past president of the Victoria Natural History Society, said the hawk was seen flying away from the eagle nest about 10 a.m. to land in a tree about 30 metres away. It stayed there, preening and calling.

article continues below

“It’s like it’s saying ‘What have I got myself into?’ ” Nightingale said.

The red-tailed hawk chick was first spotted in late May in a long-established eagle nest near Summerset Place on Roberts Bay. One of the first spotters also observed and snapped pictures of what is believed to have been a second hawk chick, but that bird has since disappeared.

From the start of the observations, the hawk chick has been noticeably smaller and paler in colour than the three eagle chicks.

How the chick of a red-tailed hawk ended up in a nest alongside bigger and stronger eagle chicks is a mystery.

The theory that has gained the most traction is that both hawk chicks were taken as prey by the eagle parents. At the nest, the two chicks started to beg and eagle parents responded to the stimuli by feeding.

Since news has spread through the human world of the mismatched family, interest has zeroed in on Sidney from far and wide. Even the BBC called with questions.

Nightingale said a birder from Oregon was spotted Friday getting a peek at the hawk and the eagle nest.

Now that the hawk has left the nest, the question now becomes will it survive?

Birds of prey, like hawks and eagles, normally stay near parents for a few weeks after leaving the nest.

They will beg food from the parents while they become stronger and more able to fly. Afterward, hunting behaviour is mostly self taught.

There are still questions as to the future of the hawk. What happens with a red-tailed hawk, a species that normally lives on small mammals, birds, reptiles and some carrion, is raised by bald eagles, birds that live mostly on fish and a lot more carrion?

Will the chick be imprinted on eagles and get itself killed by approaching the larger species? Will the parent eagles even bother to feed the hawk chick now that it has left?

“The adults know where it is. They have even landed next to it,” Nightingale said. “It’s almost like they are encouraging it to fly now that it has made the jump.

“I have not seen them bringing it any food, but who knows.”

rwatts@timescolonist.com