Not in my nest: Pittsburgh bald eagle dad pummels intruding eagle

Don’t mess with dad.

Footage captured by a webcam in Pittsburgh’s Hays neighborhood on Tuesday morning showed a male bald eagle pummeling a young eagle that had entered and stomped around the elder eagle’s nest.

“Adult eagles are very territorial at their nest, which is to only be used for raising young,” said Doug Bergman, a Pennsylvania Game Commission warden who covers southern Allegheny County.

There have been increasing reports across the country of eagles defending their nests against other eagles because population increases have resulted in more birds competing for nest sites.

“That probably happens a lot more often than we know because all the nests are not documented with cameras,” he said.

The webcam in Hays is sponsored by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and Murrysville-based CSE Corp.

This is the seventh year for the birds to nest on the same hillside above the Monongahela River near the Glenwood Bridge.

In the footage captured Tuesday, the bald-eagle dad could be seen bringing a stick to the nest just before 9:30 a.m. before something distracted him.

The eagle appeared to go into a defensive posture and flew off the nest. An intruding young bald eagle then showed up on camera and stomped around the nest, according to the footage pulled by CSE Corp.

It didn’t take long – just under two minutes — for the older male eagle to dive on the young eagle, knocking it out of the nest.

This isn’t the first time a young eagle has visited the nest, according to Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. A few years after the older male eagle and his partner began breeding in Hays, a young eagle flew close to the nest and the Hays couple chased it off.

Bonner said Tuesday’s invader looked like a sub-adult of about 4 years old. It’s close to acquiring the dapper black and white plumage of adult birds.

“It’s a growing adult maybe starting to think about next year,” said Bonner. “It’s looking for a great eagle nest, which this one is.”

But Bonner said a young bird will not stand up to a full adult or a pair telling it to move along.

Both of the adult eagles in Hays returned to their nest shortly after the invader was shooed away, continuing with nestorations.

The pair is spending more time at the nest these days bringing in sticks, branches and soft material, preparing for their first egg expected in the second half of February.