U.S. Steel eaglet that swallowed fishhook fledges: "Truly a miracle"

The U.S. Steel eaglet that was rescued and returned to its nest after swallowing a fishhook has fledged.

USS 11, named Hutch, was the last but not least of its three siblings to fledge their nest at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant in West Mifflin on Thursday morning. Hutch wasn't far behind Maz, who fledged on Monday, and Sid, who fledged on June 19.

That means parents Stella and Irvin are now empty nesters, though the eaglets are still hanging around the area, with several livestream cameras set up to keep track of their shenanigans as they fly around and hang out near the railroad tracks.

Those livestream cameras are what helped save Hutch's life. In April, hundreds of viewers watched the two-week-old eaglet swallow a fishhook that one of its parents had fed it. Intervention isn't usually allowed at eagle nests, but since the problem clearly had a human cause, people got permission to step in. 

Rescuers took Hutch from the nest, performed surgery, and put the eaglet back, all in less than two weeks. Hutch has been growing up alongside Maz and Sid ever since, without missing a beat.  

"It's truly a miracle," the Tamarack Wildlife Center, which helped coordinate Hutch's rescue, wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. "The success rate for three eggs to hatch and successfully fledge is less than 50%, yet this eagle family beat the odds."

The challenges that eaglets face growing up in the wild were on display at the nest in Pittsburgh's Glen Hazel neighborhood this season. Viewers can also watch a livestream of that nest, but this year, while there were two eaglets, both of them died from suspected bird flu. 

Sid, Maz and Hutch will stick around for a bit as they strengthen their hunting and flying skills under their parents' watchful eyes. Before the end of summer, the Tamarack Wildlife Center says they'll fly off to begin new adventures on their own.