Hays bald eagles won’t have a chick this year
Birds’ sole egg breaks
After incubating a single egg for 29 days, Pittsburgh’s Hays bald eagles left the nest around 7 a.m. Tuesday, after a live webcam revealed a broken egg, meaning they won’t have a chick this year.
The Hays eagles have been nesting on the same hillside near the Glenwood Bridge for 11 years. The experienced female has successfully raised 20 eaglets to date. The broken egg is her first with a new mate.
PixCams of Murrysville and the
Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania have operated a live webcam on the nest for a decade.
“As nature is very unpredictable it’s heartbreaking to witness the collapse of the egg at the Hays nest,” said Bill Powers, owner of PixCams.
PixCams estimated the Hays egg would have hatched on March 26. Bald eagle eggs typically hatch 35 days after they are laid, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
An Audubon Society spokesperson said the organization was sad to learn of the broken egg.
“An adult eagle was seen incubating the egg as recently as 7 a.m. (Tuesday) but when the adult stood up it appears that the adult quickly realized that the egg was no longer intact,” said Rachel Handel, a spokeswoman for the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Last year, the longtime male known as Dad went missing, and the female bonded with a new mate. The new couple produced one egg this season.
The webcam’s chat room filled with posts this morning from watchers lamenting the loss of the egg and the nesting season.
“What a devastating event to wake up to,” one watcher posted. “My heart is broken, was looking forward to one baby & HM2 being a father. I am holding out hope that she may lay another egg, despite the odds.”
The Hays nest webcam typically is watched by thousands of eagle fans and local school students when the birds’ eggs hatch and the adult eagles rear their chicks.
Like other bald eagles, the Hays birds have lost eggs before. More recently, in 2018, only one of three eggs was viable and hatched.
But in most years, the pair have raised at least one chick that fledged.
Although eagle fans are disappointed, there remains another bald eagle nest upstream along the Monongahela River at the U.S. Steel Irvin Works site in West Mifflin.
The steel mill offers a livestream webcam where the resident eagles are incubating two eggs, which are expected to hatch around April 6, plant manager Don German said.