Finch Walker

USA TODAY NETWORK

Updated May 18, 2026, 10:25 a.m. ET

Two Pittsburgh bald eaglets dead, mother sickened by unknown illness

For the first time in the nest’s history of being livestreamed to the world, both bald eagle chicks at the Glen Hazel nest in Pittsburgh have died.

The second chick, hatched in a nest along the Monongahela River, died on May 18 morning after several days of illness. The elder of the pair, its death came a day after the younger chick died. Both were less than two months old.

“This is an incredibly difficult moment for everyone who has followed and cared about this nest,” said PixCams, which streams the nest, in a Facebook post on May 18. “In 14 years of streaming these eagles, we’ve never experienced a loss like this at Glen Hazel.”

The mother eagle was showing signs of illness as of May 18.

Pittsburgh eaglets die six weeks after hatching

Pittsburgh welcomed both eaglets in early April, with the first egg hatching on April 2. The second eaglet emerged two days later on April 4.

The first eaglet died at 46 days old on May 18, a little more than six weeks after hatching. A day before, the younger of the pair died at 43 days old.

The eaglet began showing signs of illness on May 14, with symptoms including regurgitating food, a disinterest in eating, lethargy and weakness, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The mother has also shown similar signs of illness.

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What illness caused the Pittsburgh eagles’ deaths?

As of May 18, officials didn’t know why the eaglets at the Glen Hazel nest died. Potential reasons included avian flu and having ingested something toxic such as rodenticide, the Post-Gazette reported.

Pennsylvania has seen millions of cases of avian flu in recent years, with more than 480 cases officially documented and 16 million domesticated birds impacted in the past four years, Spotlight PA reported. There have been 48 documented cases of avian flu in the state, a number that experts say is likely much smaller than actual cases.

Can wildlife services intervene to help sick eagle?

Officials have a response team ready, but as of May 18 morning, they were not intervening.

“We are exploring whether Pennsylvania and Federal permission might be granted to recover GH4 from the nest for necropsy and/or pull GH3 from the nest for assessment and care, though Federal Wildlife Service policy states that permission is not granted for interference with the natural course of events at an eagle nest,” PixCams said in a Facebook post on May 17 following the younger eaglet’s death. “Eagle nestlings do not always survive, and adults may also be injured or become ill through natural occurrences.”

In their May 18 post following the elder eaglet’s death, PixCams said officials were still “working to obtain the necessary permissions to investigate further and better understand what happened.”

It’s rare that federal permission is granted to enter a bald eagle nest, the Post-Gazette reported.

There was another case in April where an eaglet at the U.S. Steel nest near Pittsburgh swallowed a fishing hook and lure on camera. In this case, officials were given permission from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rescue the eaglet to rehab it.

They have not been given permission to enter the Glen Hazel nest.

What is the survival rate for baby eagles?

Young bald eagles have a survival rate of about 50%, the Post-Gazette reported. This is the first documented instance where an eaglet has died in the 13 years the Glen Hazel nest has been webcammed.

“There’s high mortality and the natural history is rough,” said Carol Holmgren said, the education and rehabilitation partner for both the Glen Hazel and U.S. Steel nests.

How many bald eagle nests does Pittsburgh have?

There are two bald eagle nests in Pittsburgh.

The mother eagle at the Glen Hazel nest was the first female bald eagle to breed in the city limits for more than 150 years, the Post-Gazette reported.

And in 2021, eagles were spotted nesting at the Mon Valley Works Irvin Plant in 2021, about 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. U.S. Steel Corporation set up a live camera shortly after. Those eagles, Stella and Irvine, welcomed three chicks in March.

Both nests are currently livestreaming through PixCams of Murrysville.

by Captain Paul Watson

The official planetary human population is officially said to be 8 billion of us, give or take a few hundred million. The exact number is unknown.

What does this mean aside from the fact that there were only 3 billion people on the planet the year that I was born and it has more than doubled in one generation? Will it keep expanding despite the fact that we have exceeded the carrying capacity of our species. The cost of our expansion is the removal of the carrying capacity of all other species.

I am presently sitting on a boat on a river connected to an ocean that exists as a thin layer of moisture on the outside of a relatively small rock somewhere inside an outer remote spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. This little blue and white ball of spinning mud is orbiting an average yellow star and sharing the experience with a diversity of wondrous living fellow Earthling beings, including some seven billion silly little monkeys just like me and you.

The latest estimates from the star gazing scientist crowd is that there could be as many as sixty billion possible inhabited planets in our galaxy alone. And of course there is an infinity of possibilities of life evolving elsewhere. So many unknown beings, completely oblivious to us, spread across the vast expanse of the universe. And of course we are also oblivious to not only extraterrestrial life but we are pretty much oblivious to most non-human life on our little planetoid careening through the cosmos.

For the last few thousand years we humanoid monkey creatures i.e. primates have been having one hell of a party at the expense of practically every other species on the planet. We don’t treat many of them with respect or even mild consideration, even the ones that look like us, like for example, the chimps and the apes or even those with larger more complex brains like whales and dolphins. In fact we give most other species very little thought even when we’re eating them or using them to work for us. We tend to give them more thought when we’re killing them for pleasure or simply because we don’t like them.

For the most part we, the hairless monkeys, well relatively hairless anyhow, give little thought to where we came from, who we are, or where we are going. We are content as long as there is something to eat and drink, something to buy, another monkey to copulate or play with, or we have enough of a variety of stimulants and entertainment devices and the opportunity to throw balls around together.

We monkeys on the spinning mud ball by the way absolutely love anything to do with a ball. We like to throw balls, catch balls, kick balls, hit balls or better yet we love to watch other monkey creatures like ourselves throw balls, catch balls, kick balls and hit balls. Nothing gets a Homo sapiens more excited than the image of some ball passing between two posts, being tossed into some hoop or smacked with a stick into some distant hole in the ground. Some are partial to knocking a little dimpled ball through the open mouth of some moving clown, and past the little windmills. I mean it makes about as much sense as the bigger version except the smaller version is more amusing and less expensive and does not waste as much land.

We go through life believing that we monkeys are the pinnacle of creation, in fact some of us think there is even a big angry all powerful monkey in the sky who created us in his own image. … Continued on Paul Watson’s Facebook page …

News brief

May 15, 2026

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

Topics

Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

While most respondents to a survey of US backyard flock owners had heard of avian influenza, about one third didn’t know the signs or symptoms of infection in birds or people, highlighting the need for risk messaging and educational resources.

The online survey was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with state and agricultural officials from July to December 2025. The aim was to learn more about flock owners and their knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding the H5 strain of avian flu that has affected millions of US poultry. Of 638 respondents, about half had an advanced degree.

Since 2024, three avian flu cases have been confirmed in people in the United States who own backyard birds, the authors noted. 

The findings were published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

58% said someone in their home is high-risk

In total, 69% of respondents kept small flocks of mainly chickens, 71% indicated that they had no veterinarian to consult about their flock, and 54% said that wild birds could access their flock or its food or water. Respondents were generally experienced flock owners, with 29% having owned their flocks for at least 10 years, and 48% for three to 10 years. 

Education of backyard flock owners by health partners regarding signs and symptoms of avian influenza can help flock owners keep their flocks, themselves, and their families healthy.

Although 94% of owners were aware of avian flu, one third didn’t know the signs or symptoms in birds or people. About 90% knew the recommended precautions to take when handling sick or dead birds and said they were willing to use some types of personal protective equipment (PPE). A higher level of knowledge about avian flu was tied to increased intent to use PPE.

In total, 58% of respondents said that at least one person in their household was at increased risk for flu complications because of age, pregnancy, or underlying conditions.

“Education of backyard flock owners by health partners regarding signs and symptoms of avian influenza can help flock owners keep their flocks, themselves, and their families healthy,” the researchers wrote.