Ugly Duckling
Local bird watchers sighted something cool in British Columbia recently. On Southern Vancouver Island, a bald eagle has essentially adopted a baby red-tailed hawk into its own family. The eagle has been feeding the hawk for at least a week. Biologists are unsure about how this situation came to be. No one knows if a hawk laid eggs in the nest from the beginning. Or perhaps the eagle initially brought the hawk in to feed to its offspring, but parental instincts overcame her. Usually, hawks are the prey of eagles.
Source: Global News
Not Such A Wise Move
Hikers stumbled upon an owl swimming in a narrow canyon between Arizona and Utah. When their feathers get wet, owls cannot fly, making them defenseless in water. Since great horned owls spend a lot of time on cliff ledges, it is assumed the bird must have fallen in, and the hikers observed the desperate swim to dry land. Click here to see Derrick Zuk’s rare footage of the owl.
Source: Nat Geo
This Castle is Just Right
Another unlikely wildlife encounter occurred at Poenari Castle. This Romanian castle is famous for associations with Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, but its recent closure to visitors is not from haunting vampires. A mother brown bear and her three cubs have been moving around the castle grounds. After several close encounters with visitors, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change closed the castle to visitors and will begin the process of relocating the bears. Food left behind by visitors is what probably attracted the bears to the area.
Source: BBC News
