27 January 2016
For one of Pittsburgh’s three bald eagle pairs, this year started off with a bang.
Since late 2013 the Harmar pair that nests along the Allegheny River have been hard to observe because PennDOT blocked off the nearest viewing area while building a replacement for the 107-year-old Hulton Bridge. Steve Gosser took the photo above from that viewing location in March 2013. It’s been hard to get good photos for years.
Last October the new bridge was completed and dedicated but the eagle viewing area was still closed while PennDOT began to deconstruct the old bridge. However …
Yesterday morning, in a flash of light and sound, the old Hulton Bridge was imploded into the river. Staff from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania were on hand to monitor the eagles just in case. As ASWP reports below, the eagles weren’t affected at all. They were 3.4 miles away as the crow flies. (The eagles would have flown along the river, which is even longer.)
The Harmar eagles were down river near the Fox Chapel Yacht Club at the time. Our staff member monitoring the eagles said that the birds “didn’t even flinch” at the sound of the implosion.
The eagle viewing zone at Harmar will be closed a while longer but you can watch this pair easily now on the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania website. ASWP has both the Hays and Harmar eagles’ nests streaming live at eagles.aswp.org. Click here to watch.
And for more images of the Hulton Bridge coming down, check out The Hulton Bridge Blog on Facebook and this story with videos at KDKA.
(photo of Harmar female eagle in March 2013 by Steve Gosser. Video by Dave DiCello)
Fox chapel yacht club what a classy place to spend some time.
ASWP posted a video of the eagle nest camera moving during the implosion. It was really interesting, and LOUD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrYvKDBNDo is the link.
Shannon, really interesting … and you can hear people cheering after the sound of the explosion!
Your lead was accurate, but inadvertently a little crude. The newspapers both mentioned that it is breeding season, and the eagles were seen mating (presumably by Audubon or Game Commission watchers) just before the implosion!
Can’t help but ask: Did the earth move for you too, dear?
Anne
Anne, I hadn’t even thought of that angle. My oh my!