Eagles spotted raising baby hawk with their eaglets

June 16 (UPI) -- Wildlife experts in Canada said they are keeping a close watch on a very unusual situation: a pair of bald eagles raising a baby hawk alongside their eaglets.

David Hancock of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation said members taking video of an eagle nest in Roberts Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, noticed something was different about the small gray baby living alongside three larger eaglets -- it isn't an eagle at all.

Hancock said the eagles are apparently raising a baby red-tailed hawk alongside their own children.

He said it was unknown how the hawk ended up in the eagle's nest, but he was aware of a previous case where an eagle took down a hawk that is believed to have laid an egg while dead or dying in the eagle's nest. The baby from that egg was raised for at least a few weeks by the eagles.

Hancock said his foundation will continue to monitor the nest and chart the baby hawk's progress.