A Pennsylvania bald eagle pair, who saw brief internet fame after revealing that they had produced a pair of eggs just last month, have more good news! Nature lover's determined through watching the eagles' live-cam stream that both of their eggs have hatched, adding two more healthy eagles to a steadily recovering US population.
Nature World News first heard about the pair and their eggs after the first egg was fittingly discovered early Valentine's Day morning. The second was revealed later that week. We had reported how these eggs, in addition to a third laid by a famous pair of bald eagle in Decorah, Iowa, were being closely watched by an ever-growing number of internet fans - many of whom were waiting with bated breath for the first footage of adorable eagle chicks.
Now that time is finally here, with the eaglet pair in Hanover having both successfully pecked, scratched, and shoved their way out of their eggs as of early Wednesday morning (March 25). Now all that is left is for these two fuzz-balls of light grey down feathers to find their feet and a bit of stability.
As things are, the pair are still very much "bobbleheads" as avid stream watcher Linda Goodner Lynch recently shared with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. You can watch below an adorable clip she took of the chicks struggling to keep steady as mom feeds them a hearty meal of local fish. (Scroll to read on...)
[Credit: Pennsylvania Game Commission / Linda Goodner Lynch]
One of the chicks clearly is a bit more alert than the other, snapping up the majority of the meal as its sibling face-plants back into an egg shell. However, according to the commission, both eaglets appear happy and healthy.
You can watch the eagle parents and their chicks in real time via their streaming page here.
And it should be noted that this is all fantastic news for conservationists, who have been celebrating signs of recovery of these once endangered birds in the country that calls them its national symbol.
Still, even with more egg laying and more eaglets hatching, the bald eagle is not out of the woods just yet. Experts have expressed concern in the past about limited eagle habitat. While places like Hanover's woods remain spacious, these sky hunters require a great deal of territory, and will not share. The ceiling for how many bald eagles the United States can truly support, then, may be rather low.
Still, even with these concerns lurking in the background, it's not hard to look at this adorable pair and their doting parents and feel that these little guys will make it just fine.
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