A lone wolf is unlikely to kill a deer when swimming after it in a lake................Pictures below depict this type scene unfolding in Alberta, Canada's LAKELAND PARK AND RECREATION AREA...........with the wolf quickly realizing that with water up to its ears, there was no way he(she) was going to be successful killing the deer..............Excellent pictures below for you

https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/predator-vs-prey/mistake-at-the-lake-wolf-chases-deer-into-the-water-quickly-reconsiders

Mistake at the lake: Wolf chases deer into the water, quickly reconsiders

Mistake at the lake: Wolf chases deer into the water, quickly reconsiders

BY EARTH TOUCH NEWS S"AEPTEMBER 14 2017

We've seen wolf packs in Alberta, Canada pull off some impressive hunts in the past, but sometimes, predatory success can be elusive – especially when a wolf is hunting solo ... and pursuing its quarry in the water.

Amateur photographer David Smith was enjoying a canoeing trip in Alberta's Lakeland Provincial Park and Recreation Area when he found himself in the perfect lakeside position to photograph a wolf's ambitious (if somewhat ill-considered) plan to outswim a white-tailed deer.

Smith and a group of friends began their morning in a remote spot at Kinnaird Lake, one of the largest in the park, to the sounds of howls in the distance, so they were aware that wolves were nearby.

Lakeland Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada

"After hearing a wolf pack howling in the morning, there was a big splash in the lake 50 feet in front of us,"Smith wrote on Facebook. "What happened I don't think many people will have the luck of seeing, let alone documenting." 

Moments after the stag burst into the water from the tall grass lining the banks, Smith, who photographs with ILEP Photography, grabbed his camera to capture the unfolding chase scene.

The resulting series of images has generated a lot of interest online, and although the snapshots don't show the final outcome, Smith told curious commenters on Facebook that the deer did get away in the end.

"The stag jumped out of the bush and the wolf jumped right in after it and tried to swim and bite it," he later recounted to CBC News. "This probably went on for a minute and then the wolf turned around. He probably realised it wasn't going to have too much of an opportunity to kill this animal in the middle of the lake."

Wildlife biologists who weighed in on the encounter agreed, telling Smith that the lone wolf may have been a young male, and therefore an inexperienced hunter. "Potentially he just realised swimming and attacking the buck was too much to manage," Smith added on Facebook.

With the wolf retired from the race, the group watched the swimming stag reach safety, apparently unharmed in the ordeal. 

This particular aquatic hunt may have been doomed to fail from the start, but wolves in some parts of North America regularly look to the water for their sustenance. 

The wolf population in Alaska's Katmai National Park, for example, has a unique relationship with the sea. Each summer, Katmai's waters fill with salmon returning from the ocean to spawn, and for the local canids, the fish are an easy food source that's just a dive away. And it seems even sea otters are occasionally on the menu in these parts:

"With Federal protections still in effect for Great Lakes wolves, Minnesota Wildlife Officials estimate that the 2016-2017 population count is roughly 500 packs and 2,856 wolves at midwinter after remaining relatively steady in the previous four surveys"................ "The margin of error is plus or minus 500 wolves".................. "The 2015-2016 aerial survey estimated the state had 439 packs and 2,278 wolves".................. "The higher wolf numbers are consistent with the growing deer population in the state's wolf range, which grew an estimated 22 percent from 2015 to 2016(1 million deer in the state)"................That is how things normally work for a vibrant carnivore population,,,,,,,,,,,,,Mild Winters of late as well as hunters only annually killing some 16% of the herd, have the deer population growing despite wolf presence and pressure.................This same "predator and prey dance" has been going on for millenia without wolves wiping out deer............"It’s possible the wolf population could continue to increase if deer numbers keep rising"............. "But with rare exceptions, wolf populations hardly ever exceed four or five animals per 100 square kilometers(38.61 square miles-25,483 acres), which is close to what it was at its peak(3000 wolves) in Minnesota in 2004"...................... "When populations exceed the amount of territory or food available, wolves tend to disperse into other areas or they control their own numbers through fighting or having less pups annually"

Whttps://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.startribune.com/dnr-estimates-surge-in-wolf-population-in-minnesota/447709373/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTMzEzNTgwMjQwNjkzMjg5MTczNjIaZGE5N2NmOTQ3ODA0Njk5YTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNHtDWOU_CbVyvQl2EAsGgWcjF

DNR estimates surge in wolf population in Minnesota

By Josephin  Marcotty and Paul Walsh

The number of wolves in northeast Minnesota jumped 25 percent in the past year, most likely because deer, their favorite prey, saw a similar increase in population.

After remaining stable during the past four years, the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) annual wolf survey for 2016-17 found there were roughly 500 wolf packs and 2,856 wolves. That’s up from 439 packs and 2,278 animals from the previous year, but it’s still not as high as it was between 2004 and 2008, when the population was about 3,000.

DNR wildlife scientist John Erb said deer numbers in that part of the state have increased by 22 percent, the result of recent “mild winters and conservative hunting seasons the last few years.” Deer are especially vulnerable to deep snow, which hampers their ability to feed and escape predators, and which severely curtailed their population after the harsh winters of 2013 and 2014.

But the DNR also found that packs were somewhat larger and their territories somewhat smaller, an indication of their higher density in Minnesota’s forests.

“It’s the amount that can feed on the number of deer that are there,” said David Mech, a wolf researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey.

It’s not clear at this point whether the extent of their range, which spans far northern Minnesota and narrows steadily toward the south as far as Little Falls and Milaca, has also changed. Erb said the DNR will attempt to determine if the size of wolf territory has increased in subsequent surveys.

DNR wildlife officials conduct a wolf survey every winter when the population is at its lowest point. The count is an estimate based on calculations that include tracking about 40 wolves collared with radio telemetry devices, aerial sightings, the number of tracks, pack and territory size. But the difficulty of conducting the survey results in a wide margin of error — this year it was estimated to be plus or minus 500 wolves, about what it is every year.

The number of wolves in the state was once as low as 750, but that was still the largest population in the lower continental United States after many decades of attempted extermination pushed the animal onto the endangered species list. Since then, their number has steadily grown, and they’ve begun to populate northern Wisconsin and Michigan as well.

Minnesota and other states instituted a hunting season on wolves when they were temporarily removed from the endangered species list in 2012. But a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to re-list them in 2014 after wildlife protection groups argued successfully that the agency had failed to follow requirements of the Endangered Species Act. The suit is still pending.

Today their number is well above the 1,251 to 1,400 that the state has set as its goal for the animal, which is also protected in Wisconsin and Michigan.

“I do not know if or when a wolf harvest may resume,” Erb said. “It is not really about the numbers. It’s now more about legal and sociopolitical wrangling.”

The number of wolves in the state was once as low as 750, but that was still the largest population in the lower continental United States after many decades of attempted extermination pushed the animal onto the endangered species list. Since then, their number has steadily grown, and they’ve begun to populate northern Wisconsin and Michigan as well.

Minnesota and other states instituted a hunting season on wolves when they were temporarily removed from the endangered species list in 2012. But a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to re-list them in 2014 after wildlife protection groups argued successfully that the agency had failed to follow requirements of the Endangered Species Act. The suit is still pending.

Today their number is well above the 1,251 to 1,400 that the state has set as its goal for the animal, which is also protected in Wisconsin and Michigan.

“I do not know if or when a wolf harvest may resume,” Erb said. “It is not really about the numbers. It’s now more about legal and sociopolitical wrangling.”

A Minnesota-based wolf advocacy group was heartened by the DNR’s latest survey.

“This is encouraging news for an endangered, vulnerable and valued species in Minnesota,” said Maureen Hackett, founder and president of Howling For Wolves. “Although our gray wolf population estimate is still below the level of 10 years ago and before three years of wolf trophy hunting, we’re moving in the right direction

A Minnesota-based wolf advocacy group was heartened by the DNR’s latest survey.

However, she was critical of the DNR’s counting method, saying it “makes unsophisticated assumptions and presumes wolf population based on former estimates of available habitat.”

Mech, however, said that the DNR’s methodology is sound, and that it accurately reflects long-term trends.

Erb said that it’s possible the wolf population could continue to increase if deer numbers keep rising. But with rare exceptions, wolf populations hardly ever exceed four or five animals per 100 square kilometers, he said, which is close to what it was at its peak in Minnesota in 2004.

When populations exceed the amount of territory or food available, wolves tend to disperse into other areas or they control their own numbers through fighting or other methods, he said.

“There are biological limits,” he said.

Whether it be your home garden or a farmers field, the so-called "wild", seemingly unkempt sections that contain mutlple native plant species and a lot of vertical and horizontal "tangle", are critical to fostering biodiversity and the widest array of life..............Where there are native trees and plants that provide food, cover and shelter to raise young,,,,,,,,,,,,,where there is a watercourse to quench the palate, those are the critical sections of habitat that optimize the health of the land

https://phys.org/news/2013-05-unkempt-weedy-unintentionally-boosts-wildlife.html

Unkempt, weedy land unintentionally boosts wildlife

May 20, 2013

Parts of the farm landscape that look overgrown and 'scruffy' are more important in supporting wildlife than they first appear, according to new research published today in Ecology Letters.


A clean, plowed field minimizes biodiversity--no cover, food or shelter for wildlife

The findings stem from an intensive study of an organic farm in Somerset by a team of scientists focussing on the complex ways in which animals and plants interact.

First, the team of researchers from the University of Hull, the University of Bristol and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, created one of the world's largest terrestrial food-webs – a what-eats-what guide to the food-chain, and then developed a method of predicting what would happen to the whole food-web when habitats were lost.

young forest habitat abutting farmers field optimizes biodiversity

They found that many types of insects and other animals have food sources in the apparently 'scruffier' parts of the farm such as field corners, the edges of farmyards and bits of 'wasteland' where old tractors and broken machinery slowly rust away.

The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), also allowed the team to identify when different animal species would be made extinct by the loss of particular habitats, and which plants are the most critical in sustaining animal life.


Wild edges abut a farmers field optimizing wildlife habitat

Dr Darren Evans from the University of Hull, the lead-author of the paper, said: "This research has shown us how the biodiversity of a particular area can be affected by changes to its habitat. We discovered that the small patches of unkempt and weedy areas on a farm are actually hugely beneficial in supporting local ecosystems. Indeed, they even benefit animals that could benefit farmers by providing pollination and natural pest control."

Excellent cover, horizontal and vertical tangle in home garden

Dr Michael Pocock, a team member at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said: "We found that the important food plants for many animals are found in multiple habitats on the farm boosting farmland wildlife resilience. In other words, if a farmer removes mature hedgerows and the plants this habitat contains, most animals could (in theory) survive because the plants are found in other parts of the farm. Our new analytical approach allows us to test which habitats are disproportionately most important and 'rough ground' – like the unkempt field corners – are most important of all."

Another example of creating food, cover and shelter for wildlife in home garden

Project leader Professor Jane Memmott from the University of Bristol said: "Essentially, in unkempt patches of the countryside there are a wide range of plants that many would regard as weeds, which are an important food source for many animals. There certainly seems to be a case for 'doing nothing' in these habitats. Farmers may even gain by having these scruffy areas because they support so many beneficial animals, such as bees."

"Researcher Tim R. Hofmeester, at Wageningen University in the Netherlands conducted lyme disease research putting forth the hypothesis that areas in his Country with high numbers of mice eating foxes and weasels would have less incidence of lyme disease--fewer mice and fewer lyme carrying ticks".............What he actually found is that biologist John Laundre's LANDSCAPE OF FEAR paradigm was at work in regions with mice eating carnivores......."While mice are eaten by foxes, coyotes, bobcats, lynx, fishers martens, eagles, hawks and owls, it is actually the mice that escape predation that minimize lyme transmission to humans"................."By being afraid of being eaten by these carnivores, the mice actually do not wander as far afield, becoming deathly afrraid that they will become carnivore food"....."As a result, they do not become easy targets for lyme infected ticks to bite them"............"Areas with the most predator activity had almost the same number of mice as areas without predators, but had one-fifth as many ticks and one-eighth as many infected ticks".........“This is the first paper to empirically show that predators are good for our health with respect to tick-borne pathogens"..............."Nothing else — culling deer, killing mice, spraying pesticides — has had an effect on tick numbers or tick-borne diseases that comes even close to impact that mice eating carnivores have on them".............That is another key reason why this Blogger roots for the carnivores, always a pleasure to hear the yipps of the Coyotes as I go to bed each evening

http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2017/08/17/eckert-ticks-make-you-nervous-you-need-more-coyotes/578105001/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=

Eckert: Ticks make you 

nervous? You need

 more coyotes

 Aug. 17, 2017; Michael Eckert

Yes, I find myself checking for ticks more often 

this year. And I’m finding more, too.

My wife swears I’m not afraid of anything. “You

 ride your bike in the street,” she tells me.

Ticks, though, give me the heebie-jeebies. 

Dodging pickups on Pine Grove Avenue is

 no big deal; finding a tick gives me chills.

American researchers are saying we are seeing more

 ticks more often in more places because of changes

 in climate and weather. In Michigan, we used to see

 ticks for a month or so centered around May. This year,

 I picked up my first one in April and the most recent a

 couple of weeks ago.

Eastern Fisher

Milder winters are starting them up early and wetter

 springs and summers are leaving them in the tall 

grass and brush longer than in previous years.

More ticks, then, means greater risk of a host of 

tick-borne diseases, including the Lyme disease 

that is spreading through the west side of the

 Lower Peninsula.

Coyote

But a Dutch researcher has found another factor

 that may be in play.

Tim R. Hofmeester, at Wageningen University in 

the Netherlands, apparently has a better tolerance

 for ticks than I do. Even after taking all the standard

 precautions, he had to remove more than 100 

ticks from his body while doing his research.

What he did was mice, ticks and predators in 

different parts of the Dutch countryside. Lyme

 disease gets to humans from ticks who have 

fed on infected mice. Hofmeester’s theory was

 that areas with high numbers of foxes and 

martens, a predator in the weasel family, 

would have fewer mice and fewer infected ticks.

He did more than count animals and collect 

thousands of mice and ticks. He set up dozens

 of cameras to record their behavior

Red Fox.

Between the cameras and his own arithmetic, 

Hofmeester learned his original theory was

 wrong. Predators do have a huge impact on

 the number of infected ticks, but not the way

 he supposed.

Foxes and martens do suppress mouse numbers,

 but not as much as they prevent infected ticks.

 The predators kill and eat some of the mice 

and make the survivors jumpy.

Bobcat

Nervous mice tend to stay home. Mice that stay

 home don’t run into ticks, don’t provide food for

 the next generation of ticks and don’t become 

infected with Lyme disease. Areas with the most

 predator activity had almost the same number

 of mice as areas without predators, but had

 one-fifth as many ticks and one-eighth as many 

infected ticks.

“This is the first paper to empirically show that 

predators are good for your health with respect

 to tick-borne pathogens,” Taal Levi, an ecologist

 at Oregon State University who was not involved 

in the study, told the New York Times.

Gray Fox

Levi points out that nothing else — culling deer, 

killing mice, spraying pesticides — has had an 

effect on tick numbers or tick-borne diseases 

that comes even close to Hofmeester’s findings.

This is going to be another reason I always root

 for the predators.

And why I’ll be happy the next time I find coyote

 tracks or hear a fox yipping in my neighborhood.

The history of reforestation of the Eastern USA is a fascinating one.........While the New England and Mid-Atlantic states experienced natural forest regeneration(via seeds from remnant woodlots and hardwood sprouting) as the Industrial Revolution lured folks off the farms and into the cities, the southern USA's forest history is quite a different one..........."By 1930, the golden age of (southern) lumbering was over"............ “In about 25 years, millions of acres of old-growth forests had been harvested"........."Forests had been clearcut with gigantic steam-powered skidders that destroyed all standing trees"............ "In many areas, no seed trees remained"............"Henry Hardtner of the Urania Lumber Company was the first lumberman to advocate for reforestation"..........."He told his employees to leave trees less than a foot in diameter and to leave four seed trees per acre, a paradigm that he felt would provide a 2nd crop of trees within a 60 year span..........In fact, his acumen and vision, was spot-on......."While the loss of millions of acres of virgin longleaf pine forests was an ecological catastrophe, there's hope that the longleaf pine ecosystem will continue to expand"

http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2017/09/21/reforesting-a-stumpscape/

Reforesting a Stumpscape

History of Sustainable Forestry in the South

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  •  September 21, 2017

By 1930, the golden age of lumbering was over. “In about 25 years, millions of acres of old-growth forests had been harvested,” says U.S. Forest Service emeritus scientist James Barnett. “Land once covered with majestic stands of longleaf pines had become vast ‘stumpscapes.’”

The cutover land was not suited for farming or raising cattle

Cutover forests were bare, with little prospect of regeneration. Forests had been clearcut with gigantic steam-powered skidders that destroyed all standing trees. In many areas, no seed trees remained.

At the time, most lumbermen saw no benefit in leaving small trees or seed trees. “They were harvesting 200 year old trees,” says Barnett. “They couldn’t fathom growing another crop.”

Henry Hardtner of the Urania Lumber Company was the first lumberman to advocate for reforestation.

As early as 1905, Hardtner believed cutover land could provide a second crop within 60 years. “Hardtner was a visionary,” says Barnett. “In the early 1900s, many lumbermen thought replanting was a publicity stunt.”

Hardtner became the leading advocate for reforestation. He told his employees to leave trees less than a foot in diameter, and to leave four seed trees per acre. He also began protecting his stands from disturbances like wildfire and rooting hogs. Hardtner developed close ties to the Forest Service, and a number of FS foresters visited the Urania Lumber Company.

The Great Southern Lumber Company owned over 300,000 acres of land – much of it virgin longleaf pine stands such as these. Photo from Louisiana State University Archives.

Barnett wrote about Hardtner and others in a recentGeneral Technical Report that also explores the era’s historic context. The Civil War had recently ended, and millions of former slaves were landless and destitute. The South’s economy was in shambles.

“As the Nation expanded westward, the demand for lumber was enormous,” says Barnett. “Huge amounts of wood were needed to build railroad cross ties, bridges, and trestles. And old-growth forests in the northern U.S. were depleted.”

It probably seemed fortuitous that the federal government was selling millions of acres in the Gulf Coast states. Much of this land was covered in virgin longleaf pine and cost as little as $1.25 an acre.

“Lumbering became the economic driver for the recovery of the region,” says Barnett. Sawmills flourished. In Louisiana, as many as 1,300 sprung up in the early 20th century, and there was a mill in almost every town.

For a while, the mills were a huge employer. However, within 20 years, most of them had harvested all the nearby timber and closed. “Many mill towns became ghost towns,” says Barnett.

Steam-powered logging equipment – like the Clyde skidder – was gigantic.

Photo from Lousiana State University Archives.

Some of the largest sawmills in the world were in Louisiana, such as the Great Southern Lumber Company at Bogalusa. At its peak, the Great Southern Lumber Company’s mill produced up to one million board feet of lumber each day.

William Sullivan managed the Great Southern Lumber Company. Sullivan eventually became convinced that Hardtner’s ideas about forest restoration were correct and began to implement them at the Great Southern.

Like Hardtner, Sullivan used natural regeneration when possible. However, he also began developing methods for growing and planting pine seedlings.

Forest Service researcher Philip Wakeley began working with Great Southern in 1924. The Southern Forest Experiment Station – precursor to the Southern Research Station – had only existed since 1921.

Wakeley and his colleagues at Great Southern began studying southern pine restoration. The scientists developed methods for collecting pine seeds and growing seedlings in nurseries, along with technology for planting the seedlings.

Great Southern’s forestry program ended during the Great Depression, but Wakeley’s work continued. By 1934, Wakeley was conducting research at the newly established Stuart Nursery. The nursery was located in the Kisatchie National Forest, LA. Eventually, the nursery produced 25 million seedlings a year.

Unfortunately, longleaf pine is more difficult to regenerate than other southern pines. Once cut down, longleaf pine forests could not easily be replaced.

In hindsight, the loss of millions of acres of virgin longleaf pine forests was an ecological catastrophe. However, the region had few other resources, and people needed work. “Lumbering helped the South recover economically after the Civil War,” says Barnett.

Barnett followed in Wakeley’s footsteps and spent his career developing reforestation practices. Barnett and other SRS scientists eventually developed guidelines for longleaf pine regeneration – including how to grow longleaf pine seedlings in containers, a question that had baffled experts for decades.

“There’s hope that the longleaf pine ecosystem will continue to expand,” says Barnett. “It is an economic asset, as well as a recurring vision of the beautiful and inspiring forests that once covered so much of the South’s forested landscape.”

Read the full text of the GTR.

"Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies!".............. "Rivers and seas boiling!"........... "40 years of darkness!"............... "Earthquakes, volcanoes!"..........."The dead rising from the grave!"..........."Dogs and Cats living together"------I think to this great riff from the classic GHOSTBUSTERS THEATRICAL FILM, you could add: "Bald Eagles and Red-Tail Hawks eating together"------And in fact, captured on video(attached link), a Bald Eagle family has indeed "adopted" and is feeding a baby Red-Tailed Hawk.........The Hawk apparently survived an Eagle attack on the Hawks nest, with the baby Hawk being carried back to the Eagle nest to be consumed as food..........."In a twist of good luck, it is hypothesized that the hawklet in question, still kicking, started gaping for food and triggered the eagles' parental instincts"............"It's an unusual and fraught situation"........... "Eagles and hawks aren't naturally chummy: brooding redtails (and other hawks) defensively harass much larger but less agile bald eagles, which in turn will readily prey on hawk nestlings"................."Researchers are uncertain if the redtail will make it out of the nest safely, but if it does, will it try to court a bald eagle or court its own kind?".......... "In other words, will it keep on assuming it's an eagle or revert to its inherent Hawk ways?"

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW VIDEO OF BABY HAWK BEING FED BY EAGLE PARENTS
https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/animal-behaviour/whats-a-hawk-chick-doing-alive-in-an-eagle-nursery

What's a hawk chick doing alive in an eagle nursery?

What's a hawk chick doing alive in an eagle nursery?

BY ETHAN SHAW JUNE 13 2017

 The red-tailed hawk – who's since been nicknamed "Spunky" – is still quite at home with its adopted eagle family, and according to reports from locals observing the nest, the young bird has now fledged! The hawklet took its first short flight late last week, and was able to make it back to the nest where it was fed by its bald eagle "parents". 

Exposure to the elements, sudden raids by predators, incompetent (or outright callous) parents, the omnipresent spectre of starvation: any baby bird faces some steep odds in its journey to full-feathered, high-flying adulthood. But one weeks-old red-tailed hawk in British Columbia has managed to beat odds that are both steeper and stranger than usual. How long it can keep doing so, though, remains a very open question.

This spring, bird watchers monitoring a long-used bald eagle nest along the seacoast of Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula noticed a strange-looking tenant amid three eaglets: a much smaller nestling identified as a newborn red-tailed hawk. The eagle parents have been feeding the hawklet alongside their own chicks,treating the imposter as a member of the family 

It's an unusual and fraught situation. Eagles and hawks aren't naturally chummy: brooding redtails (and other hawks) defensively harass much larger but less agile bald eagles, which in turn will readily prey on hawk nestlings.

So what's a hawk chick doing alive and (apparently) well in an eagle nursery? We can't say for sure, but local raptor experts suspect the likeliest scenario involves the eagles plundering a redtail nest and hauling some chicks back to their aerie as prey. Perhaps the hawklet in question, still kicking, started gaping for food and triggered the eagles' parental instincts.

Supporting this hunch is the fact that a local nature photographer actually took a picture on May 29 of twohawklets in the eagle nest. That second redtail chick didn't make it – eaten, perhaps, or simply a victim of the harsh, sometimes fratricidal competition common within eagle broods.

The surviving hawklet, though, has proved its mettle so far, successfully vying with its much heftier nest-mates for scraps. "It's quite something to see the way it is treated," Kerry Finley, a caretaker at the Shoal Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary where the eagle nest is situated, told the Vancouver Sun. "The parents are quite attentive."

Dr David Bird, retired professor of wildlife biology at McGill University and director of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation that's long kept tabs on this particular aerie, notes that the redtail likely assumes it's an eagle. "That's probably why it's so cocky and has a lot of swagger," he explains. "Because of its spunkiness and aggressiveness, it's been able to survive among those big eaglets."

The hawklet is obviously ascribing to an eagle's diet. "Let me put it this way: it's eating a lot of fish," Bird says. The eagle aerie – occupied for more than a quarter-century – lies in a Douglas-fir tree on Roberts Bay, with easy access to rich fishing and foraging waters in and along Haro Strait. The chick's mostly piscivorous menu isn't exactly typical for its kind, but Bird doesn't expect any long-term issues: red-tailed hawks, after all, are generalist predators up for eating just about anything they can catch and overpower.

Then again, "long term" isn't necessarily in the cards for a hawk in a bald-eagle foster family.The eaglets hatched at the start of April, and observers estimate the hawklet to be roughly half their age – maybe five weeks old. It would, of course, be outsized regardless of any age disparity. A mature bald eagle may tip the scales at ten pounds or more and sports a wingspan of six or seven feet; an average red-tailed hawk weighs four or five times less. You can see just how much smaller the hawklet is than its nestmates in this recent video of feeding time in the mixed brood:

Impressive as the youngster's ongoing survival literally in the heart of an eagle's nest has been, a perilous period lies ahead. Within the next couple of weeks, the hawklet and its adopted siblings will fledge. They'll leave the nest for longer and longer periods, practicing flight and eventually hunting. Mom and dad will still feed them for perhaps seven to ten days further, Bird explains, but it's something of a free-for-all: the adult eagles may just drop food in the nest, and the fledglings will have to scramble for it. At this stage, eaglets will even aggressively commandeer morsels from incoming parents.

It'll be a real test for the young hawk to muscle its way into this fray – and, as it does so, to avoid looking like dinner to the increasingly big, mobile and mature eaglets. Bird notes that it's also possible the eagle pair will wind down their parental duties before the redtail's adept enough to catch prey on its own.

Should the hawklet survive the trial-by-fire of its upbringing and successfully reach adulthood, Bird is especially intrigued by what sort of path it might take. "The redtail may or may not leave the nest safely," he says, "but if it does, will it try to court a bald eagle or court its own kind?" In other words, will it keep on assuming it's an eagle? (Just keep it away from a mirror.)

Decades ago, Bird and his colleagues conducted experiments into "cross-fostering" among raptors, specifically the little falcons called kestrels. The researchers swapped eggs and babies between American and common (aka European) kestrels, and then tracked their mating preferences as adults: would they shun their own species and romance potential partners belonging to their adopted one? "About 50 percent of them made the wrong choice," Bird notes.

Of course, should this foster-raised redtail try getting fresh with a bald eagle, it's unlikely to get very far. "It will probably be immediately rebuffed, if not killed," Bird says.

Even without self-identity issues and potentially murderous family members, a young raptor has its work cut out for it: about half die within the first year. Those are the cold hard facts, but we probably shouldn't be writing off this spunky red-tailed hawk just yet: it's got the outlook of an eagle, after all.