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.
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.