Eaglet pushes baby hawk out of San Simeon nest — but the story has a happy ending

Kelsey Oliver
·2 min read
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For weeks, a baby red-tailed hawk was a welcome guest in a San Simeon eagles nest — until it wasn’t.

On Saturday, one of the two eaglets apparently decided three had become a crowd and forcibly evicted the young hawk from the nest.

Video posted on Facebook by Robert Lutz shows one of the eaglets harassing the juvenile hawk, pushing it from one side of the nest to the other, before ultimately driving it over the edge.

Lutz also posted several photos of the hawk on the day it fell, including one of an eaglet isolating the chick on a branch and another of the chick caught in twigs after it fell.

“They roughed the young hawk up and ejected it from the nest,” Lutz wrote on his post on the Fresno Area Birders Facebook page.

It survived the fall from the sycamore tree and was rescued by observers, who alerted Pacific Wildlife Care in Morro Bay, where the hawk is now recovering.

An eaglet stares down a young red-tailed hawk after chasing it out of its nest in San Simeon on June 8, 2024. The hawk fell into branches below and was rescued by observers.
An eaglet stares down a young red-tailed hawk after chasing it out of its nest in San Simeon on June 8, 2024. The hawk fell into branches below and was rescued by observers.
An eaglet chases a young red-tailed hawk out of its nest in San Simeon on June 8, 2024. The hawk fell into branches below and was rescued by observers.
An eaglet chases a young red-tailed hawk out of its nest in San Simeon on June 8, 2024. The hawk fell into branches below and was rescued by observers.

Central Coast birders took to social media and birding websites to conclude the tale of the wayward hawk chick living alongside two eaglets and their parents.

In a post on the ebird.org birding site, wildlife photographer Petra Clayton said that by the later afternoon of Saturday, the red-tailed hawk chick was found “on the ground at the base of the nest tree.” The post said that ultimately Pacific Wildlife Care later picked the chick up.

A baby red-tailed hawk was caught in branches after being pushed out of an eagles nest in San Simeon on June 8, 2024.
A baby red-tailed hawk was caught in branches after being pushed out of an eagles nest in San Simeon on June 8, 2024.

Kristin Howland, executive director of Pacific Wildlife Care, confirmed that the hawk chick is now in the organization’s care.

Barrier said the hawk appeared to have several wounds around the face and head but has been eating well.

Despite the tumble, the hawk certainly met a more fortuitous outcome than might have been expected after the bald eagle parents brought the chick back to their nest as food in mid-May.

Instead of being attacked or eaten, the chick was adopted by the eagles and fed for three weeks alongside the two larger eaglets.

That is, until Saturday, when at least one of the eaglets apparently had run out of patience sharing its space.

Ultimately, the chick stayed in the eagles’ nest for at least 25 days, beginning May 14 when the first sighting was reported by Clayton.

A hawk chick stayed in an eagle nest for at least 25 days until Saturday when the hawk was found on the ground and transferred to Pacific Wildlife Care.
A hawk chick stayed in an eagle nest for at least 25 days until Saturday when the hawk was found on the ground and transferred to Pacific Wildlife Care.