Experts Say Outlook Great After Hays Eaglet Hatches

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- At 12:37 AM, when most of us were sleeping, a little gray fuzz ball emerged from one of the eggs in the eagles' nest in Hays.

"So far things look great, and she's still incubating the other two eggs," says Brian Shema, operations director at the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. "So in a couple of days we should have another two eaglets in the nest."

He says hatching can take quite a while.

"We noticed the pip yesterday, just prior to 10 a.m. That's when the eaglet just starts to break the egg shell. And the eaglet didn't actually fully emerge until just after 12:30 this morning. So, 14 hours or so that it took this little one," Shema said.

It's a good start. But in nature, he says, there are no guarantees.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

"Two years ago, we had three successful eaglets in the nest, and all three fledged. They're out and about somewhere. Last year, unfortunately, we had a very difficult year, where nothing happened," Shema said.

The Audubon Society also has a camera trained on an eagles' nest in Harmar. The view there is not quite as good as it is in Hays, although they have determined that at least one egg has been laid thus far.

"The Harmar birds tend to wait a little longer," Shema explained. "But we know that she is incubating at least one egg. We would assume that she's laid additional eggs, but we don't know that for sure."

He says the hatching is a bonus for this branch of the Audubon Society.

"The Hays eagle hatched on the week we celebrated our Centennial," said Shema.

Watch The Eagle Cams:
HAYS EAGLE CAMERA
HAMAR EAGLE CAMERA