PITTSBURGH — When an old dead oak holding a bald eagle nest crashed to the ground in North Park last week, a legion of photographers and watchers collectively gasped. The tree supported not just the park’s only eagles’ nest, but the only such nest in any Allegheny County park, our News partners at TribLive reported.
The two bald eagles were able to fly away when the nest went down, according to observers.
Chances are decent that this bald eagle pair or another couple could rebuild the nest in the area, said Sean Murphy, the state ornithologist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
The eagles nest, four years old, is viewable from a shelter along Pearce Mill Road near the ice skating rink. In 2019, the shelter was renamed “Eagle’s Nest” to acknowledge the strong public interest in the site. Bald eagles have attempted to breed there for two years, unsuccessfully.
A new eagle couple started frequenting the park this year with the male, known as Mr. Stripe because of a black stripe on his beak, spending the entire summer in the park. Mr. Stripe and his lady friend, Ms. Star, have been adding sticks to the nest regularly in the last month.
“There’s something about that location that the birds are keying on,” Murphy said. “If this is a new pair and they chose that same spot, there are factors driving them to be there.” He suspects the birds might try to renest in the area.
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