30 April 2025
When the Hays bald eagles did not nest in Hays Woods this spring, eagle watchers were puzzled. The Hays nest tree had fallen last year but surely the pair would build in another tree on the same hillside. The urge to nest is biologically imperative for bald eagles and it was hard to imagine the pair had completely left the area. So where were they?
About two weeks ago, hunches on their whereabouts began to pay off. By 19 April Dana Nesiti and Wendy (Eaglestreamer) had found the nest in Glen Hazel, across the river and upstream from the Hays site. Field marks on the adults proved they’re the same male and female as last year’s Hays pair and, even better, they’ve been bringing food to the nest and bowing in feeding-the-chicks mode.
How many chicks? On 20 April Dana made a video of the nest that answers that question. Look closely! Two fluffy gray chicks poke their heads above the nest rim.
Within 10 days Dana had collected a lot more footage and Bill Powers of PixCams began figuring out how and where to set up a streaming camera for the remainder of this nesting season. All the latest developments are covered in this video from CBS Pittsburgh posted on 29 April. (Note: The closeup nest footage is from prior years at Hays, not from this year in Glen Hazel.)
It sounds like a Glen Hazel nestcam could be online by late December. Meanwhile for the latest news and views, check out Dana’s posts at Eagles of Hays PA on Facebook and his videos at Canonusr on YouTube.
Speaking of sounds, the Hays eagles have moved to a new neighborhood, but the sound “Haze” (Glen Hazel) is still in their name.
UPDATE 5 MAY 2025: Where to see the Glen Hazel bald eagle nest
Dana Nesiti gave me directions to the best viewing spot for the Glen Haze eagles’ nest. Go to Homestead Costco’s back lot.
Best spot is Costco’s back lot by their loading dock (40.402315, -79.9227297). It is far and you will need binoculars or a spotting scope to see. You get to see fly ins and outs and can see the eaglets when they are up. We spoke with Costco management and they are OK with people viewing the nest from their back lot as long as we keep it clean and don’t interfere with the truck traffic.
Here’s what you’ll see from there. As the trees leaf out you’ll have a harder time seeing them.
Look for the landslide on the right, then scope up and left for the nest.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS INFO. I AM SO GLAD WE WILL STILL BE ABLE TO CHECK ON THIS PAIR AFTER NEW CAMERA IS IN PLACE.
Where can we view the nest?
Good question! I don’t know. The KDKA video days that PixCams is looking for a place to see it from Sandcastle side. I didn’t know if that’s gotten anywhere.
I remember a comment about two months ago that someone had spotted the original “Dad” because of his wonky feather near the old Hays nest site. Does anyone know what happened to him? Where he might be?
Since the sighting you mentioned, I have not heard any news of the male eagle who used to nest at Hays (nicknamed “Dad”).