Two fuzzy balls of feathers are wiggling around the inner nest bowl at the bald eagle site in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Hays.
The couple’s second egg of 2020 hatched today at 6:40 a.m. live on the camera provided by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and CSE, a Monroeville security camera company. It is their 12th successful hatching since nesting in Allegheny County in 2013. View the live-streaming webcam at aswp.org.
“The egg had been laid 36 days ago, so this is right in the timeframe of the typical 35-37 days from egg laying until hatching,” said Rachel Handel, spokeswoman for the Audubon chapter. “The first eaglet to hatch has already had many meals provided by its parents and the new eaglet will soon follow. The parents will rip food into tiny pieces that the eaglets can consume. The newest eaglet will soon catch up in size to its two-day older sibling.”
Across the county in Harmar, a nest collapse in 2019 forced another eagle pair to move to a more remote spot on the same cliffside overlooking the Allegheny River and Route 28. The new nest is at a rugged location, and despite several years of webcam observation of the Harmar site there is no camera on the nest this year.
“At Harmar, we believe based on the adult birds’ actions, that there is at least one egg in the nest,” said Ms. Handel. We will continue to watch bird behavior to determine when a hatch takes place. Those behaviors would include an adult leaning down into the nest, which would be an indicator that an eaglet is being fed.”
The Harmar birds are generally about a week behind Hays eagles in egg laying and hatching.
There is no camera at the North Park eagle nest constructed last year at a site visible from the Latodami Nature Center. Binocular observation from below shows indications that at least one egg has been laid.
It is not known what is happening inside two additional bald eagle nests in Allegheny County on private property in Glassport and Crescent.
John Hayes: 412-263-1991, jhayes@post-gazette.com.
First Published: March 23, 2020, 5:29 p.m.
