Harmar eagles lay first egg of season

Watch it live Harmar bald eagle webcamhttp://www.aswp.org/pages/audubon-eagle-cams or http://www.pixcontroller.com/eagles/harmar.htmSign up for one of our email newsletters.Updated 42 minutes ago The Harmar eagles laid their first egg of the season sometime...

Harmar eagles lay first egg of season

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Harmar bald eagle webcam

//www.aswp.org/pages/audubon-eagle-cams or //www.pixcontroller.com/eagles/harmar.htm

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Updated 42 minutes ago

The Harmar eagles laid their first egg of the season sometime Monday evening, 10 days earlier than last year, according to the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

The pair, in their fourth year of nesting on a steep hill high above Route 28, are one of two pairs of urban eagles nesting in the Pittsburgh area including a pair in the Hays neighborhood along the Monongahela River.

An eagle egg requires 35 days of near constant incubation before it hatches.

Last year, the Harmar birds weren't disturbed by the implosion of the nearby Hulton Bridge during the breeding season. The couple went on to rear two eaglets that successfully fledged last year.

The Audubon Society confirmed the Harmar couple's egg Tuesday morning by watching the birds behavior on a live webcam where one of the birds stayed in the nest continuously throughout the night and into Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, the camera angle does not show an egg inside the nest bowl.

For years before webcams were trained on eagle nests, researchers relied on behaviors to confirm egg laying and feeding young.

Audubon used the behavior of the Hays eagles earlier this month to confirm that the pair, who quickly built a new nest after losing their aerie tree and first egg in a windstorm, are incubating a new egg.

Unfortunately, the webcam at the Hays nest cannot be moved near the birds' new home because of federal regulations prohibiting any disturbance close to an eagle nest.

However, the live Hamar webcam offers enhanced, high definition video and night vision. Although, the webcam offers more “natural” views with trees limbs partially obstructing the view.

The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania purchased land around the Harmar nest to protect the site and got a special permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to install a webcam last year. The live stream is supported by Comcast video.

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