Observers of the Hays bald eagle nest have noticed some changes taking place.
About a month ago, the original bald at Hays disappeared and hasn’t been seen since.
About a week later, the original female was in the nest with what was observed to be a new male.
The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania tells KDKA Radio the female tried t o drive the new male away but “it seems that she has accepted him and he’s been sticking around the nest area.”
Observers are able to tell it is a new male because the old one had a “wonky” feather that made him easy to identify.
“It will be very interesting to see how it plays out when breeding season kicks into gear (late December),” Rachel Handel with the Audubon Society tells KDKA Radio. “At that time, the eagles will bond by adding onto the nest, then eventually mating.”
As for the original male, Handel says they believe he was approaching 20 years of age.
Bald eagles in the wild typically live between 15-25 years.
“Bald Eagles need to be 5 years old to breed and he’d been raising young on that Hays hillside since 2013. In the wild, 20 years is a nice, long life for a Bald Eagle. It’s unknown what’s happened to him and we likely will never officially know,” said Handel.