Residents of Pittsburg, Pa., are enjoying a rare sight--a young eaglet that recently hatched next to two eggs in a bald eagle nest in the area.
The action is being captured with a live stream video of the nest that is popular among the locals; among other things, the camera has caught an altercation between the female bald eagle and a raccoon attempting to raid the nest, NBC News reported.
The bald eagle chick hatched on Friday after 37 days of incubation, slightly longer than the average 35-day incubation period for eagle eggs, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The two other eggs in the next are expected to hatch soon. The eagle pair are known as the Hays eagles, and they also fledged an eaglet together in 2013.
Even though Friday's hatching appeared to take only two hours, eaglets can actually take as long as 48 hours to break out of their shells.
"Before the eaglets actually break through the main shell, they break through an inner membrane, and it is possible for the parents to hear the chick from outside the egg," Audubon communication director Rachel Handel told the Post-Gazette.
"After the eaglet hatches, it will be wet. It will dry quickly, will be a light gray color, and will appear to be very fuzzy. Its eyes will be brown; skin, legs and lining of its beak will be pink."
The two adult eagles are both caring for the chick and the two eggs, with the male eagle warming the young whenever the female eagle temporarily leaves the nest.
"Once all hatching is complete, the young will develop relatively quickly, especially in size," Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, told the Post-Gazette. "They will develop their second down around 10 days old. During the first few weeks one parent, usually the female, will always be at the nest."
The offspring are vulnerable especially in the first year, when eaglets have a 50 percent mortality rate. Threats to the young still in the nest include predators such as crows, owls, hawks and snakes.
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