Bald eagles at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant lay 1st egg of season
The bald eagles nesting at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant have laid their first egg of the year.
While it's the sixth season for dad Irvin at the nest, there's a new female this time. Stella is replacing Claire, who left the nest late last year.
Williams Powers with PixCams, which runs a livestream of the eagle nest that you can watch on kdka.com, said the egg was laid at 4:43 p.m. on Thursday.
The egg could hatch in as little as 35 days, becoming the eighth eaglet born at the nest at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant in West Mifflin along the Monongahela River. Last year's eaglet was named Lucky, partly because it was the nest's lucky No. 7 chick.
The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania says bald eagles can lay anywhere between one to four eggs, but two is the most common number. If Irvin and Stella are going to lay more, they would come in the next two to four days.
Usually Pittsburgh birdwatchers also have their eyes on the Hays eagle nest, which has been featured on a webcam since 2014. But it doesn't look like there will be any eggs from the Hays eagles this year after a storm knocked down their nest. While PixCams said the female was seen with a new male, they haven't rebuilt their nest in the tree where the camera is placed.
Last year was also a disappointing year for the Hays couple because their single egg broke and didn't hatch.
