Comments on: Want to see eagles?

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:36:33 +0000

I don’t know for sure this spring. Haven’t been there for a while.

By: Cory DeStein

Cory DeStein — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:54:42 +0000

Kate, i had mentioned in your other thread on eagles i saw bald eagles at the same exact spot, flying through the Waterfront and it was in January.
I read on the three rivers bird site that a bald eagle was spotted flying up to Mon right in West Mifflin just a few weeks ago.

Are they for sure nesting in Moraine?

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:27:08 +0000

Eagle sighting! Jan 2 I was standing at the checkout in Petco at The Waterfront (this is the shopping center opposite Duck Hollow). The line was moving slowly so I gazed out the window toward the bluffs along the Mon River when I saw all the gulls come up off the river at once. An adult bald eagle cruised by, flying upriver. Way cool!

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:57:08 +0000

>as though making out to look like one BIG super coot.
What a great description. I’ve heard that this flocking behavior makes it almost impossible for the predator to capture prey because he can’t see how to grab on to just one. Glad you saw it. I wish I’d been there!

By: Chris Harlan

Chris Harlan — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:41:07 +0000

I had read about the eagle attack on the coots. On a subsequent weekend, I was treated to the same maneuver as I came up along the South Shore of Lake Arthur. I noticed that the coots were completely bunched together as though making out to look like one BIG super coot. Also I did not see any dive away as the Eagle swooped down.

I’m wondering whether this is the same animal instinct that some herd animals harness in the Savannah when they expect a lion attack.

It appeared to me as though the eagle needed to be able to single out (visually) one specific coot before it could actually get one. Since the coot stuck close together the eagle landed near by on the ice and looked rather embarrassed.

I wonder what others have observed in this regard.

Your blog is wonderful! THANK YOU.

By: Anne Curtis

Anne Curtis — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:07:21 +0000

Thank you, and OOPS! The other hawk we saw was in fact near Pino’s, but the restaurant is in Pt. Breeze, not Regent Square. I think it might have been hunting in Mellon Park, or one of the areas nearby.

Anne

By: Steve V

Steve V — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:58:32 +0000

I’m pretty sure that I saw a Cooper’s Hawk right outside of WQED yesterday morning around 7:30. It dove at something and landed on the dark stone wall along 5th Ave. First one that I’m sure I’ve seen around. Dark brown chest, long tail feathers with dark black bands, smaller than a Red-Tailed. And then over the Allegheny River at Springdale a dozen or so swans, I think. They were pretty far off, but bright white and long necks. Good day for birds in the city.

-steve

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:07:10 +0000

“Herself” was at CMU in the center of campus yesterday when I took my walk. During good weather (yesterday and Wed) the CMU red-tails soar over campus a lot. They stay all winter, as do the peregrines at Pitt.

Hawks and falcons you’ll typically find in the City of Pittsburgh in winter are red-tailed hawks, Coopers hawks and peregrine falcons. I don’t see many sharp-shinned hawks but they’re in the area. Much less common but possible in the city in winter are merlins or a solo bald eagle (as mentioned above). In the surrounding countryside in appropriate habitat you’ll find northern harriers, rough-legged hawks, northern goshawk (good luck finding one!) and American kestrels.

That’s all I can think of… but it feels like I’m missing something.

By: Anne Curtis

Anne Curtis — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:31:57 +0000

Once again, I’m not sure where to post this–but I trust you’ll figure it out!

Yesterday, we saw a hawk of some sort on the chimneys in the inner quad at CMU, and I thought I heard Herself (my choice of sexes!) again today, again walking the dog. We also saw a smallish one flying near Pino’s in Regent Square after lunch.

Who over-winters, besides the eagles you mentioned? I thought most migrated?

Thanks
Anne

By: Kathy McCharen

Kathy McCharen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:29:30 +0000

I live near a large lake in Tallahassee, FL and a pair of eagles nested in the neighborhood last year. After one of their offspring was found in a neighbor’s backyard, badly dehydrated, a local wildlife rehab group captured the baby and he spent several months at their facility. After rehab, he was released in our neighborhood a month or so ago. It’s amazing how the entire neighborhood has rallied behind “our eagles”! A neighbor just told me that she had seen the adults building a nest behind our house. It’s very exciting!!