Category Archives: Birds of Prey

Hays Eagles Moved Across the River

Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship
Hays eagles nesting at Glen Hazel, 24 April 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

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.

video embedded from Dana Nesiti Canonusr on YouTube

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.)

video embedded from CBS Pittsburgh on YouTube

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.

Glen Hazel bald eagles’ nest as seen from Costco back lot (photo by Dana Nesiti)

Look for the landslide on the right, then scope up and left for the nest.

Seen Last Week in Colorado

Birds of Prey, Colorado, Doves & Chickens, Plants & Fungi, Travel

27 April 2025

Last week I missed an influx of migrating warblers that arrived in Pittsburgh but I saw a lot of birds and scenery in Colorado including 14 Life Birds.

Flowers: Colorado is very dry so most of the flowers we saw were small. The flower with the most pizzazz was the bright red Northern Indian paintbrush, above.

Our group totaled 17 people in two vans. The first van was a birding group from Switzerland, all of them photographers. Many birds were new to them so they took a lot of photos. Here we’re observing evening grosbeaks.

Observing evening grosbeaks, 23 April 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

We saw an old favorite from Pennsylvania, a nesting great horned owl with two chicks near the Utah border. (This is my own digiscoped photo. I am awaiting shared bird photos from the group.)

Great horned owl with two chicks, Mesa County, CO, 22 April 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Best sound was the low droning of the greater prairie chickens in Wray, Colorado. The recording below this Wikipedia photo was captured by our guide, Sue Riffe, where we observed them.

Greater prairie chicken booming and bowing at the lek (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

And of course there was spectacular scenery: Here are the captions and commentary for the slides below.

  • View of eastern Colorado from the air: Small distinct clouds make shadows on the dry landscape.
  • Scene near Fountain, Colorado: Dry land with a building and barbed wire fence. Lots of barbed wire in Colorado.
  • Perfectly formed isolated “lump” hills near Fountain, Colorado
  • Mesa with sandy erosion deposits that make it look as if the mesa was built by bulldozers and dump trucks.
  • Promontory at Coal Canyon Trailhead. A piece at the top is ready to fall. Watch out below!
  • Utah-Colorado border road. Utah is ungrazed on the left. Colorado is grazed by cattle on the right. At this site Utah has a lot more birds.
  • Meandering Arkansas River at Arapaho NWR.
  • Our group walks the prairie at Pawnee National Grasslands.
  • Sunrise at the greater sage grouse lek near Coalmont, Colorado.

It was a good trip and now I’m glad to be home. Onward to warblers!

Birds Showing Off

Bird Behavior, Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
Peregrine flying upside down, Ohio 2021 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)

4 April 2025

For many raptors courtship season has given way to incubation but this recent video of a western marsh harrier in England reminds me that fancy flying is an important part of choosing a mate. Here are four species going all out in the air.

Western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus) (*)

Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) Video description: The dizzying “sky-dancing” of a Golden Eagle is a territorial and courtship display. They dive from great heights and can reach nearly 200 miles per hour.

video embedded from Cornell Lab of Ornithology on YouTube

Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

video embedded from WildhoodBook on YouTube

Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) Peregrines often fly upside down when they’re courting, as shown in the top photo by Chad+Chris Saladin and the one below.

Peregrines SW and Boomer in courtship flight, Cleveland, 2013 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
video embedded from Sukhjot Singh on YouTube

(*) The western marsh harrier of Europe and Africa is in the same genus as our northern harrier (Circus hudsonius)

Owl Siblings Update in Schenley Park

Bird Behavior, Birds of Prey, Schenley Park
Great horned owl siblings at Schenley Park on a cold morning, 1 April 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

2 April 2025

Dana Nesiti visits Schenley Park every day to record the progress of the great horned owl family: mother, father, Muppet who was rescued in Feb and returned in March, and Sibling. (Read the back story in this 28 March article: Schenley Park Owl Update)

On Monday 31 March, Sibling made a big leap in development that allowed Dana to photograph three family members in one shot!

Muppet, Sibling and mother great horned owl at Schenley Park, 31 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

Dana describes how big a deal this was:

4/1/2025. In today’s episode of the owlet’s development and behavioral series we find the owlets eating before daylight and then puffing themselves up against the cold wind. Video is a bit over 5 minutes.

Confirming with citizen scientist friends that yesterday’s [31 March] capture of Sibling finally making it up into the canopy with the adult and Muppet was a first for it. Today [1 April] was the first we saw it feeding with Muppet and the adult.

— Dana Nesiti Facebook post on 1 April 2025

Yesterday was windy and cold so the two siblings ate and then puffed up and huddled together. Here’s Dana’s five-minute video of their morning activities.

video embedded from Dana Nesiti’s canonusr YouTube account

Follow Dana Nesiti here on Facebook for the latest owl news.

Subscribe to Dana’s (“canonusr”) YouTube channel for video updates.

Schenley Park Owl Update

Bird Behavior, Birds of Prey, Schenley Park
Great horned owl youngsters in Schenley Park, 25 March 2025. Muppet the rescued female + Sibling (photos by Dana Nesiti)

27 March 2025

This week Dana Nesiti is having a great time observing Schenley Park’s great horned owl family. Yesterday was exceptional when he found and photographed all four family members and confirmed the well-being of both youngsters. See the complete story in Dana’s Facebook post here.

Composite photo of the great horned owl family in Schenley Park by Dana Nesiti

Dana’s photo contains:

  • Top left: Historical perspective: Mother and two youngsters more than a month ago approx 23 Feb.
  • Top right: Mother owl and Muppet on the same branch on 26 March.
  • Bottom left: Father owl perched high above Sibling on 26 March.
  • Bottom right: Sibling on 26 March.
Who is Schenley Park’s great horned owl family?

We don’t know much about the parents except that a pair of great horned owls has nested year after year in various locations in or near the park. In late March 2016 an owlet was rescued in Schenley after it fluttered to the ground from the nearby Anderson Bridge.

This year’s two owlets are celebrities, easy to tell apart because they have different markings and even different personalities.

Great horned owl youngsters, Schenley Park 25 March 2025. Muppet the rescued female + Sibling (photos by Dana Nesiti)

Muppet a.k.a. “Muppet the Marauder” is the whiter of the two youngsters. She fell 100′ from the nest on 27 February and was rescued and taken to Tamarack Wildlife Center where she acquired her nickname. Tamarack returned her to Schenley Park on 11 March where she branched for a couple of days and soon began making short flights from branch to branch and tree to tree. Tamarack says she has the personality of an avid explorer. At this point Muppet has been flying for about two weeks.

Sibling, whose sex is unknown, stayed in the nest until 24 March and was seen making short flights the next day. Sibling is cautious compared to Muppet. Dana captured him/her making a flying leap.

video embedded from Dana Nesiti, Canonusr on YouTube

True to her personality Muppet flew much sooner than I expected. Sibling more is in line with my flight-date predictions.

If you want to find the owls in Schenley Park I suggest you look for the photographers or listen for blue jays. Both are good indications that an owl is nearby. 😉

Owlet Flying + Peregrines Not Incubating Yet

Bird Behavior, Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
Schenley Park great horned owlet, 19 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

20 March 2025

Schenley Owlet flying

The Schenley Park owlet, who spent two weeks in rehab at Tamarack and came home on 11 March, has been making fast progress. Many have seen her roosting in trees this week and assume she must have flown to get there, but we never see it. She only moves in the dark. Fortunately, Dana Nesiti captured a video of her in flight before sunrise on Tuesday. He slowed down the video so you can see her.

video embedded from Dana Nesiti, Canonusr on YouTube)

And click here for Dana’s 10 minute video of her chilling in Schenley Park.

Pitt peregrines not incubating yet

Carla laid two eggs at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest on 16 and 18 March and a third egg is due this evening.

However, we’ve seen both parents cover the eggs and we know incubation begins when the next to last egg is laid. Are they incubating? Is Carla going to lay only 3 eggs?

As of this morning, 20 March, we have nighttime evidence that the peregrines are not incubating yet. Both were off the eggs the majority of the time last night as seen in this time lapse video.

Nighttime timelapse at Pitt peregrine nest, 19 March 7pm to 20 March 2025 7am ()

When peregrines are truly incubating they open the feathers that cover their brood patches before laying down to place their skin on the eggs. If they don’t, those feathers keep the eggs from reaching incubation temperature.

On the falconcam it is impossible to see if their skin is touching eggs but we can tell if they are opening the feathers. Watch for them to bob their bodies before they lay down. Ecco does this in a more exaggerated way than Carla.

Speaking of Ecco, did you notice that he relieved Carla around 3am? The literature says that the female incubates all night, but not last night. Peregrines can always surprise us.

Seen This Week: Owlet, Planets, and Incipient Spring

Birds of Prey, Phenology, Schenley Park, Weather & Sky
Great horned owlet in a tree in Schenley Park on 14 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

15 March 2025

The great horned owlet that fell from its nest in Schenley Park and was returned on 11 March was relatively easy to find on Wednesday, posed like a statue on a sloping tree branch (below).

Great horned owlet on a branch, Schenley Park, 12 March 2025 (digiscoped by Kate St. John)

The owlet spent Thursday well camouflaged on an inaccessible-to-humans cliff ledge. On Friday she was in a tree, see photograph at top. Juvenile owls use their claws to climb trees. (Note: in case you hear people calling her Muppet, Tamarack gave her that nickname.)

Mercury and Venus

After sunset on 9 March I noticed a bright planet in the west with a divot out of the top of it like a phase of the moon. It was Venus about to set. How did I live this long without knowing that Venus has phases?

Phases of Venus (diagram from Wikimedia Commons)

When I digiscoped Venus I saw a shadowy planet next to it. Mercury was also about to set, pinkish and to the left of Venus whose brightness plays havoc with my optics.

Mercury and Venus with a divot off the top, 9 March 2025 (digiscoped by Kate St. John)

Here’s a view that shows Venus a bit better.

Mercury and Venus, 9 March 2025 (digiscoped by Kate St. John)
Incipient Spring flowers and leaves

Incipient is a good word to describe spring flower and leaf status this week. As of Thursday 13 March spring was “in an initial stage; beginning to happen or develop.”

Common whitlowgrass blooming in Aspinwall, 11 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Common whitlowgrass (Draba verna), a member of the cabbage family, blooms very early. It is native to Europe, western Asia and North Africa and is now spread around the world.

Honeysuckle leaves were just beginning to open on Thursday.

Incipient honeysuckle leaves in Greenfield, 13 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

And the Cornelian cherry tree near Panther Hollow Lake had a single tiny flower open in the bud.

Incipient Cornelian cherry flowers, Schenley Park, 13 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

All of these plants are from other continents and they start blooming sooner than our native plants.

After yesterday’s very warm weather everything else will speed up.

Why Owls Can Turn Their Heads So Far

Bird Anatomy, Birds of Prey
Great horned owl with head facing over its back (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

13 March 2025

Owls have excellent eyesight but they see the world differently than we do.

When we look straight ahead (fixation point below) our peripheral vision allows us to faintly see our hand waving near our ear — a 200-220° field of view.

Human field of view (diagram from Wikimedia Commons)

Owls have binocular vision similar to ours but their peripheral vision is much narrower. They cannot even see 180°.

Field of View diagram for owl derived from an illustration on Wikimedia Commons

To make matters worse they cannot move their eyes!

Great horned owl eye closeup (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Since their eyes are always facing forward, they have to move their heads or their bodies to see anything outside their narrow field of view. Moving their bodies would alert their prey, so owls have evolved to move their heads as far back as they need to see — up to 270°.

  • Owls have 14 neck bones for greater flexibility. We have only 7 neck bones
  • The owls’ atlanto-occipital neck joint has evolved to move the head further back.

When you can’t move your eyes, you have to move your head.

video embedded from Garry Hayes on YouTube

Fallen Owlet Returned to Schenley Park

Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, Schenley Park
Great horned owlet about to be delivered to temporary nest, Schenley Park 11 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

12 March 2025

Almost two weeks ago — on 27 February — this 6-week-old great horned owlet fell 100 feet from her nest on the Panther Hollow Bridge and was rescued and taken to Tamarack Wildlife Center. Tamarack determined her injuries were so minor that she was ready for release quite soon. But where to take her? Her birth-nest is inaccessible.

Panther Hollow Bridge, Schenley Park, with owls’ nest indicated (photo by Kate St. John)

She needed to be in a foster family with siblings her age but she is older than other known nestlings in western PA. (Her parents nest really early.) In the end the best choice was to return her to her parents by placing her in a temporary nest near the bridge.

Yesterday, 11 March, she went home with help from Tamarack Wildlife Center, City of Pittsburgh Forestry and Pittsburgh Park Rangers. Her adventure is documented in these photos by Dana Nesiti.

First, her temporary nest was placed 20-30 feet up in a tree within sight and sound of her parents. Then George DeSavage of City Forestry received her from Tamarack staff.

The handoff, great horned owlet on his way to the temporary nest in Schenley, 11 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

As a parting shot she bite the gloved finger of her Tamarack handler. Fortunately those gloves are very thick.

Owlet bites a finger during the handoff, fortunately in a stout glove! Schenley Park, 11 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

Then she rode in the bucket truck to her temporary nest …

Owlet on his way to the temporary nest via bucket truck, Schenley Park, 11 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

… and settled in.

Great horned owlet in his temporary nest, Schenley Park, 11 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

She is just the right age to begin “branching” — walking off the nest — so her parents will not be surprised to hear her away from the birth-nest. When she wakes up hungry she will make begging calls like this and her parents will bring her food.

Tamarack explains:

Over the next 3-4 weeks, she will practice perching, hopping, flapping and short flights before being fully able to fly at around age 9 weeks.

Great Horned Owls spend more time with their young than any other owl species in Pennsylvania. Six months or more are spent supporting their young and teaching them hunting skills, before encouraging their young to disperse in the fall.

— Tamarack Wildlife Center Facebook pAGE

Read more about her adventure in the Post-Gazette Great horned owl named Muppet, rehabbed after 100-foot fall, returned to Schenley Park.

Follow Tamarack Wildlife Center on Facebook where they mention how to help them rehab wildlife.

If you would like to contribute and to be part of making this and other treatments and reunions possible, check out www.tamarackwildlife.org

— Tamarack Wildlife Center Facebook pAGE

Look Who Has Wings!

Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, Schenley Park
Great horned owl nestling showing new wings, 4 Mar 2025 (photo by Jim McCollum)

7 March 2025

On Tuesday 4 March Jim McCollum visited Schenley Park to see the great horned owls’ nest. While there he was lucky to see a nestling stand up and stretch. Look who has wings!

Great horned owls in Schenley Park, 4 March 2025 (photos by Jim McCollum)

These wings are not fully developed yet but they are looking good and will be further along today than they were three days ago.

When will the Schenley owlets fly?

Here is my best guess at when the nestlings will fly from the Schenley Park bridge nest.

  • Based on their appearance and behavior I think the first egg hatched around 5 February and the second about two days later. Approximate hatch dates = 5-7 Feb. [Update from Tamarack: Hatching was approx 28-30 January.]
  • Great horned owl nestlings walk off the nest and start “branching” at 5-6 weeks = approximately 12-21 March.
  • Branching youngsters fly away from the nest — “fledging” — at 9-10 weeks = early April. I am not sure of this estimate. It may be sooner (late March) though I doubt it will be later in April.


Recap: Where to View the Nest
If you want to see the owls’ nest bring binoculars, a camera and a scope if you have them to this location in Schenley Park near the stone bench on the Lower Trail (click this link for the map).

Here’s what the bridge looks like when you get there. Look for the nest at the red circle area in this photo.

Panther Hollow Bridge, Schenley Park, with owls’ nest indicated (photo by Kate St. John)