Bald eagles nesting in Pittsburgh.

[Merc]

The parents now leave the eaglets alone in the nest while they hunt. The nest is becoming lined with fish skins. The Mon has been an excellent source of food. The river that was nearly dead is now home to 76 species of fish.

[Merc]

The eaglets are now about 7 weeks old and are nearly as big as their parents.

[Merc]

The nest gets crowded when both parents and both eaglets are in the nest at the same time. One of the parents brought a large fish to the nest.

[Jiminvirginia]

Do they eat cats?

[Merc]

Do they eat cats?

The male brought a small black and white cat to the nest several years ago. It may have been a road kill but there’s no way to know for sure. Sure kept them busy all day. They killed a gull a few years ago and had white feathers all over them, the nest and the eaglets. We’ve also seen rats, squirrels, rabbits and nearly anything that they can pick up and fly with. Their most common prey however, is fish from the river. It’s hard to identify the species of fish, but one they caught last year was probably a small paddle fish which was driven out of the rivers several generations ago by industrial pollution.

[Merc]

If you’re lucky enough to watch the parents feed the eaglets, you’ll see that, at this stage of their development, fish are brought to the nest and torn into small pieces and left on the floor of the nest by the parents for the eaglets to find. In another week or so, the parents will just bring fish to the nest and allow the eaglets to tear them apart. Fledging is still a few weeks away. These are great parents.

[Merc]

Looks like the male has assumed all feeding duties. I haven’t seen the female in the nest in quite some time. If you do see them both in the nest together, the male is slightly smaller than the female and his head feathers are smoother. She did a fine job early on when the eaglets were very small and now it’s his turn to get them ready for the rest of their lives. Sound familiar?

The male regularly catches a few fish a day. The eaglets are well fed and are now as large as the male and probably won’t be in the nest too much longer.

[Merc]

Both eaglets are now perched on the tree limbs. Both may leave within the next few days.

[Merc]

So, now one of the eaglets is flying off and bringing fish back to the nest. Haven’t seen the adults.

[Merc]

Empty nest. Good luck, good hunting. Hope dad shows them where the best fishing spots are located. The Mon is an amazing river.

[Merc]

If you browse through the several hours of stored video, you might catch one of the eaglets returning to the nest to either eat the food they’ve caught or to call out to the adults. They are still a little clumsy and might crash land into the nest. They’ll figure it out eventually. The adults will allow them to hang around for a while longer but won’t feed them and will eventually drive them away.