Video shows eaglet hatching at Pittsburgh-area nest

An up-close video shows another eaglet hatching in the nest at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant in West Mifflin. 

The bird's-eye view camera angle, which is new this season, shows the second eaglet slowly wiggling out of its egg and into the world on Tuesday.  

At the start of the video, the camera focuses on a crack in the egg, where something can be seen fidgeting. The egg cracks in half, and a tiny wing starts pushing its way out. A few moments later, the eaglet is free, the eggshell draped over it like a blanket. Eventually, the newborn shakes off the shell and starts to stand up. 

At one point, both parents, Stella and Irvin, can be seen in the nest, with one of them feeding the new eaglet's older sibling. There's still one more egg in the nest, and if it's viable, it should hatch soon.

These two eaglets mark the ninth and tenth to hatch in the nest, which has been nestled in a tree along the Monongahela River since it was built in 2019.

It's Stella's second season at the nest after she kicked out Irvin's previous mate, Claire. Last year, the pair raised Ocho, who was the only one of the three eggs to hatch. Ocho accidentally fledged in June when he was practicing his flying and fell. 

While the eaglets will grow up quickly, they'll stick around for a bit. The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania says young eagles spend several weeks in the nest and will usually leave in mid-summer, returning until their parents force them to move away.

It's shaping up to be an exciting spring for Pittsburgh eagle watchers. There's also a camera trained on an eagle nest in Glen Hazel, where the former Hays eagles relocated after a storm blew down their nest. That couple laid two eggs shortly after Irvin and Claire, so if they hatch, they shouldn't be far behind.