Bald eagle chicks thrive along Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers

All three bald eagle nests along the Monongahela River and Youghiogheny River near McKeesport in Allegheny County have chicks this spring, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

At the Youghiogheny River nest, near McKeesport, there is at least one young bird on private property, said Douglas Bergman, a game warden for the commission covering Allegheny County.

Plants managers at the U.S. Steel Irvin plant in West Mifflin report there are two young eaglets at the nest on the plant grounds, Bergman said. The three young eagles at the Pittsburgh Hays nest are growing up fast as documented by a live webcam.

But the spring leaf-out makes it hard to check nest activity.

That is unless there’s a live webcam.

But even with a camera at the Hays site, a clump of leaves obscures a small portion of the nest.

However, the leaf-out prevents disturbances from people because the nests will be hard to see and find, Bergman noted.

Earlier in the year, he investigated and gave warnings to two organized hiking groups and others who might have got too close to the Hays eagle nest.

“It always seems to coincide with the hatch of the Hays eagle eggs,” Bergman said. “As soon as people see it on the webcam and it’s in the news, boom, we start getting encroachment,” he said.

Intruders have been showing up at the Hays nest for years right after hatch.

No one was cited for intrusions this year.

“Since there was no evidence that the hiking groups, and other people, violated the posted signs prohibiting them from getting too close to the nest, they were issued warnings,” Bergman said.

Bergman posts signs around the Hays nest, setting boundaries to prevent people from standing above the nest on the steep hillside where they breed from January to August. Although bald eagles are no longer endangered or threatened, the birds and their nests are still protected under federal law and regulations.

If sufficiently disturbed, bald eagles will leave the nest, sometimes at critical times when they are caring for eggs or eaglets, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Hunters, mountain bikers and walkers frequent the Hays Woods area near the eagles’ nest. Bergman said he doesn’t want to close down trails but wants the public to obey signs warning them to stay away from the nest.

“If an organized hiking group is telling you that you can get close and see into an eagles’ nest, they are lying to you,” Bergman said. “It’s a restricted area, no one has clearance.”

When PixCams of Murrysville and the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania adjust or swap out webcam equipment at the tree next to the Hays eagle nest, the commission requires them to complete the work by December before the birds start their breeding season.

Bergman tries to maintain signage for the Hays nest during the breeding season and while the birds fledge. But sometimes the signs get pulled down or disappear, he said.

Come late June and July when the eaglets learn to fly and leave the nest, Bergman and eagle watchers can confirm the number of young eaglets. The juvenile eagles typically fledge, leaving the nest, about 14 weeks from when they hatched, he said.

“Those birds that were raised and fledge will someday fill in the voids along the Monongahela, Youghiogheny and Allegheny rivers once they get old enough to make a nest,” Bergman said.