Eagles' nest on Pittsburgh hillside destroyed by storms

The bald eagles nesting on a wooded Monongahela River hillside for more than a decade need to rebuild.

Thunderstorms Tuesday packing wind gusts more than 35 mph destroyed the eagles’ nest deep in Pittsburgh’s Hays neighborhood.

The collapsed nest was at least the fourth one that the eagles had built on the hillside since 2013. A total of 20 eaglets took their first flights from nests in Hays Woods over the years.

The nest, which measured about 6 feet wide and 6 feet deep, became destabilized during the eagles’ unsuccessful nesting season earlier this year, said Rachel Handel, communications director for the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

“Really, the weather event was just the last straw for the nest, and it collapsed,” Handel told TribLive. “I know a lot of people are thinking, ‘Gosh, this nest collapsed!’ But, they have plenty of time to build a new nest. Mating and courtship don’t begin in earnest until the end of September.”

The fourth nest, which the eagles built around 2018, collapsed into the oak tree that supported it at 7:16 p.m., according to webcam footage from the Murrysville-based company Pixcams.

A number of volunteers were viewing the webcam footage in an online chat room when the nest collapsed, Pixcams founder Bill Powers told TribLive.

“These people are crazy for eagles,” said Powers, an area native. “It’s one of these Pittsburgh things.”

A line of thunderstorms, complete with strong wind gusts and lightning, blew into the Hays Woods area around 7:15 p.m., said Chris Leonardi, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Moon.

Hays Woods likely withstood “strong wind gusts, at least in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 mph,” Leonardi said.

A wind gust of 36 mph was recorded at 7:18 p.m. at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, about 7 miles away.

The storm also dropped 1 to 2 inches of rain throughout much of Allegheny County, he said. The highest reading — 2.7 inches — was recorded at Braddock Locks and Dam.

When the two eagles nested in the Hays Woods hillside in 2013, it marked the first time bald eagles had bred within Pittsburgh’s city limits in a century, Handel said.

Pixcams started streaming live webcam feeds of the Hays eagles’ nests a decade ago, Powers said. It is available all day, every day at aswp.org/pages/hays-nest.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission granted Pixcams a special permit to stream video of the nest for educational purposes. The Audubon Society installed a new web camera earlier this year to improve the video’s resolution.

Pixcams broadcasts online from more than 40 webcams, about half of them on a 98-acre lot in Murrysville, Powers said.

“It’s just been such a great way to connect people with nature,” he said.