Six years, five seasons on camera and three nests — the bald eagles of Hays are anything if not persistent.
Workers from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania on Friday rigged an upgraded live-streaming video camera in a position expected to give eagle watchers the best view they’ve had into the nest.
In February a windstorm toppled the eagles' nesting tree on a steep hillside overlooking the Monongahela River. The resourceful birds quickly built a replacement nest in a large sycamore tree a couple of hundred yards to the northwest, just out of the camera’s view.
Onsite during Friday’s installation, the president of the Murrysville company that donated and maintains the camera said he was excited about the new positioning.
“We’re in the sycamore tree where the nest is, but 25 feet above it looking down,” said Bill Powers of PixController. “We’ve never had this kind of a view. We should be able to see [chicks pecking out of the eggs] and everything.”
Last year’s upgrades included high-definition video, but the tree’s collapse prevented its use.
“This year we’re hi-def tilt with higher zoom capacity and night vision,” he said. “The power source is in a better area for sunlight, so hopefully we’ll get better recharging than in previous years.”
Seen from the nearby Great Allegheny Passage bike trail, the impromptu nest appears to be hastily built, but Mr. Powers said it’s stable and he expects the eagles to shore it up when they begin pre-mating behavior later this month or in early January.
The Hays hilltop was recently acquired by the city Urban Redevelopment Authority, which plans to develop real estate some distance from the eagle’s home. A spokesman for the state Game Commission, which controls access to the nest, said the URA signed an agreement with the agency that will keep the tract above the nest site open for archery-only public hunting. Audubon was expected to acquire a landowner agreement with URA permitting the group to maintain the nest.
John Hayes: 412-263-1991, jhayes@post-gazette.com.
First Published: December 1, 2017, 8:50 p.m.
Updated: December 2, 2017, 1:35 a.m.
