Nesting Bald Eagles Return in PA
February 12, 2017 1:28 PM   Subscribe

A pair of bald eagles has returned to the nest established three years ago near Codorus State Park, Hanover, York County.

As of Friday evening, Pennsylvania Game Commission nestcams positioned next to the nest revealed a single egg, which is currently being watched over with great dedication. The live-stream infrared cameras (one on each side of the nest) allow a very detailed window into their daily routine.

There is hope that this year, any offspring will survive; last year, only one of two eggs hatched, and the chick died shortly after. After continued attempts to hatch the remaining eggs were unsuccessful, the adult eagles eventually abandoned the nesting attempt for the year.
posted by I_Love_Bananas (17 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Hays eagles, here in Pittsburgh, have laid there first egg of the season this weekend as well.
posted by firemouth at 1:50 PM on February 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.
posted by bleep at 1:54 PM on February 12, 2017 [5 favorites]


It's so......weird to me. When I was growing up in Central PA, there was always rumors that there was a bald eagle spotted at the state park across the road and what a exciting few days it was trying to see if the large bird was in fact a bald eagle.

Now. It's like, oh yeah hey Bald Eagles are back, and breeding successfully.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 1:59 PM on February 12, 2017


I pass an enormous Bald Eagle nest every day on my commute--it's in a tree that was spared when a parking lot was built near the river many years ago. When I manage to spot one or both eagles near the nest I take that to be a sign that I'm going to have a good day. If I'm distracted for some reason and forget to look, I feel like something's missing from my morning. Being able to see those gorgeous birds in the middle of suburbia is something that I try to be consciously grateful for every day.
posted by bookmammal at 2:44 PM on February 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


Meanwhile in Georgia, the very awesome White Oak Pastures, a local farm obsessed with being good stewards of the earth and giving their animals good lives (we ate some of their steak last night and it was amazing), is struggling to deal with the giant flock of bald eagles preying on their chickens.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:52 PM on February 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


In 1963, there were only 417 known nests in the lower 48 states, a fraction of the more than 10,000 nests now, federal wildlife officials estimate. Alaska, with its vast open lands and rivers and fewer humans, has 50,000 to 70,000 eagles. Link

When I was a kid, bald eagles were considerd an exotic bird only to be seen in zoos--certainly it was unheard of to see one in the wild in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now they are occasionally showing up here, including at an elememtary school.

I didn't realize this until my mind was blown when I saw one flying across the freeway.
posted by eye of newt at 3:57 PM on February 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


In other eagle news from Pennsylvania...

2/6/17: Eagle photographed flying near Gettysburg with talons snared in steel trap

2/8/17: Poor eagle!

2/9/17: Saved by the bucket truck.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:22 PM on February 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


I don't care how jaded you are, bald eagles are THE SHIT. They winter nest near my house, and one winter I saw one flying over my house, on its way to or fro I assume (I'm not SO close to the river that they circle me when hunting) and it was so huge I literally thought it was a small airplane at first before I realized it was a freakin' bird.

The only more majestic bird I've seen is the Golden Eagle, and that may have only been because I was on the freeway and it stooped, changed its mind, and almost crashed through my windshield at full wing extension, and I also briefly saw God in that moment because HOLY SHIT DEATH BY GIANT BIRD.

(PS Golden Eagles' wingspan is about as big as your windshield, try not to discover this firsthand.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:19 PM on February 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'm in my mid-forties, and growing up, bald eagles were mythical creatures that were only seen in nature documentaries. Now there are pairs nesting around the lakes and along the river right here in Minneapolis, and it's one of the few things that make me proud of our capacity to fix things we've nearly destroyed.

Every time I hear people complain about environmentalists, I want to explain about the bald eagle, the national symbol of the United States, and scream at them, "Environmentalists did that!"
posted by Ickster at 6:39 PM on February 12, 2017 [6 favorites]


You betcha, Eyebrows! They're freakin' BIG when you get close to them. I came to mention goldens also. There are tons of bald eagles here in Idaho--the World Center for Birds of Prey is just 50 miles away. I won't say I'm jaded, but I get more excited by seeing the goldens, as they're a bit more rare around here. The other ones I get excited about are the ospreys--often mistaken for bald eagles, but they're just as fierce looking.

I was able to hold a bald eagle once--so cool! Oddly enough, you expect them to be heavier than what they are--not that they aren't fairly good size, but given the feathers and the...attitude, I guess, they take up lots of space. Being hollow boned and feathered makes them easier to hold.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:48 PM on February 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


I guess spotting golden eagles through windshields is more common than I suspected.

The only time it has happened to me, my sibling and I were driving along a country(ish) road when all of the sudden this huge, gigantic, enormous winged creature swooped down and crossed in front of the car (which was motoring along at somewhere between 80 and 100 km/h.) We had no idea what it was (although there were jokes about pterodactyls). It wasn't until I got home and did some research that I could say (with a fair degree of certainty) it was a golden eagle. I have no idea what it spotted on the other side of the road or why it decided that it needed to get that close to the windshield in order to make its pass, but I can imagine the mess we would have had on our hands if the bird has miscalculated and made contact with the glass. I still get shivers thinking about the sight.
posted by sardonyx at 12:23 AM on February 13, 2017


"I guess spotting golden eagles through windshields is more common than I suspected."

A friend of mine who's an orinthologist said it happens more than you'd think, because their preferred hunting habitat in temperate non-mountain zones is "open land at the edge of trees" which is basically "interstates with awesome sound dampening tree stands." So they're quite often hunting rabbits and squirrels along the mowed roadside of highways that have trees nearby, and quite often interacting with car drivers who almost piss themselves.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:01 AM on February 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


(I mean I asked her about it after I ALMOST DIED due to eagle sighting through the windshield at 60 mph with two small children in the car and she laughed and was like, yeah, that's a thing.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:03 AM on February 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


Looks like the Pittsburgh eagles lost their nest in the storm last night: "High winds also apparently damaged the tree where the Hays bald eagle has its nest. The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania said the tree is no longer visible on its camera."

posted by octothorpe at 4:15 AM on February 13, 2017 [2 favorites]


Nesting pair at Berry College in North Georgia with two chicks, one just cleared the egg about a half hour ago. Berry Eagle Cam 2
posted by allandsome at 5:39 AM on February 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


I think that we're seeing urban adaptation of eagles - there are 1-3 young ones in my urban (not downtown) neighbourhood and there's a breeding pair at work (2-storey wood+glass) that fly inappropriatelty close to the mirrorerd windows.

I'm glad of it! But the crows and seagulls are disagreeing.

Guess it must be mating season around here right now, driving to a mall in Richmond earlier today the sky was white with seagulls. The entire sky.
posted by porpoise at 6:32 PM on February 13, 2017


Egg #2 has arrived!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 7:04 AM on February 15, 2017


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