12 June 2025

When Charity Kheshgi and I visited Frick Park last weekend to see the barred owl fledglings we thought we saw three youngsters at the same time but we doubted ourselves. Barred owls (Strix varia) usually have only one or two youngsters per year. Yesterday we went back to see them again and saw FIVE youngsters, an unusually high number.

Charity arrived at the Hutchinson entrance ahead of me and saw five fledglings. By the time I arrived one had flown off but at the end of our stay the mother owl came in with prey and all five crowded round for a bite to eat. It was only a chipmunk, not a full meal for a family of five, so as soon as it was gone she left to find more.

Enjoy Charity’s photos and videos of the owl family. Eventually they attracted a crowd of humans.

Five barred owl fledglings at Frick Park + mother, 11 June 2025 (photos by Charity Kheshgi)

The family is hanging out near the Hutchinson entrance. Your best bet for finding them is to listen for upset songbirds.

10 June 2025

Great horned owls stole the show in Schenley Park from March into April. Now Frick’s own barred owl family has two fledglings branching and flying this month.

UPDATE as of 11 June: There are FIVE fledglings!

Barred owls (Strix varia) have lived in Frick Park for about five years and though they missed nesting last year they have two five fledglings this spring. On 7 June Charity Kheshgi and I met at the Hutchinson entrance to go find them.

The first clue for me were the sounds of upset robins and blue jays which we followed to the general area. Once there Charity and my Merlin app could hear the call of a barred owl juvenile. We waited for it to make a move.

Eventually one, then two, fledglings awkwardly flapped and branched from tree to tree.

The youngster with the dark face perched where we could see it between the leaves.

Charity captured video of the youngster calling. Can you hear it? Because of upper-range hearing loss I cannot hear any of it but I can see the bird open its beak to make the call.

If you go looking for these owls, listen for upset songbirds to “tell” you where the birds are hanging out. You’ll have a big advantage finding them if you can hear their high-pitched calls!

p.s. On 7 June Charity and I saw three owls at once but the third was very obscured by leaves. We thought it was a 3rd fledgling but was it an adult? A short time later we saw an adult and only two fledglings. Michelle Kienholz has watched this family for months and confirms there are only two youngsters.

16 May 2025

Remember when we watched Schenley Park’s great horned owls from late winter into early spring? Great horned owl fledging season is long past but woodland “earless” owls have just reached fledging time in Europe and North America. Let’s take a look at the family life of two species.

Tawny owls in Europe (Strix aluco) and barred owls in North America (Strix varia) are in the same genus Strix, the “earless” owls that inhabit forests, parks and suburbs. They resemble each other in appearance and breeding behavior. Both nest in tree holes, on snags or in structures such as nest boxes.

In the U.K. tawny owls reached hatch time in early to mid-April. This video posted on 17 April by Robert E Fuller shows three eggs hatching at a tawny owl nest in Yorkshire, UK.

By late April, tawny and barred owlets were half grown. Here’s an evening feeding early this month at the Wild Birds Unlimited Barred Owl nestcam in Indiana. As the video begins you can hear one of the parents hooting.

This month barred owlets in North America’s mid latitudes are “branching” before they fly. This 7-minute video shows a barred owlet doing some risky maneuvers in the trees.

Watch for behavior like this in a park or woodland near you. Keep looking up and you might see a branching owlet.

4 May 2025

Now that the Hays bald eagles have moved across the river, the old eagle viewing site on the bike trail has no eagles to see so I asked Dana Nesiti at Eagles of Hays PA on Facebook, “Where is the best place to view the Glen Hazel eagles’ nest?”

Dana recommends the Homestead side of the river at the Costco back lot (1000 Sandcastle Dr, West Homestead, PA 15120. Pin drop: 40.402230, -79.922830). He writes:

Best spot is Costco’s back lot by their loading dock [see pin drop map here]. The nest is far away and you will need binoculars or a spotting scope to see it. [While there] 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. … That is where I have been posting the pics from.

— email from Dana Nesiti, 2 May 2025

SPECIAL NOTE: If you go to Costco remember you are on private property so be sure to be unobtrusive and cooperative. Do not park at the loading dock, do not park in the access road (i.e. park far away). Do not block anything. Move if you are asked to move. You won’t want to ruin this opportunity for yourself *and* for everyone else. See information on public property viewing spot below.

To help you find the nest tree from that vantage point, Dana included a photo of the hillside with the nest tree circled in yellow and this explanation of what to look for.

If you park back there [at Costco] and walk to the corner and look across the river you will see a spot were there was a landslide. At the top of the landslide to the left is a sycamore tree that they are in (circled in attached image).

— email from Dana Nesiti, 2 May 2025

With a scope, binoculars, or a high-powered camera you can see the parents and eaglets as shown in Dana’s photo below.

As the trees leaf out it may become harder to see the nest.

Public property viewing spot = WALK 1 MILE out on the Duck Hollow Trail: I investigated a second viewing spot on public property described by John Carson in the comment below. Today I walked it and clocked the distance = 1 mile from the Duck Hollow Parking Lot; 2 miles on your feet because you have to walk out as well.

Slight bummer: When I got to the viewing spot I could see the big nest from below but no eagles were visible; eaglets were probably sleeping. 40 minutes spent to see … sticks.

Remember: If a watcher messes up with Costco this 2 mile walk is the only choice.

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.