30 March 2023
Seven years ago I wrote about two great-horned owl nests on local bridges — one on the Homestead Grays Bridge incubating eggs, the other with young at the Anderson Bridge in Schenley Park.
A lot has changed in seven years. At the Homestead Grays Bridge there is still a nest but it’s occupied by a red-tailed hawk this year. We saw the hawk incubating last Sunday from the Duck Hollow parking lot. Bring a scope if you stand here.
The nest is where it’s always been, even seven years ago, on a cross bar flush to the upright above the pier. For better viewing, look at it from the Homestead side.
Meanwhile at the Anderson Bridge all is quiet. Even the traffic is gone. The bridge was closed suddenly in December 2022 for a four-month patching operation because it was too dangerous to stay open. Last week the project became a 3-4 year total rehab, though work won’t begin for another year.
The bridge was rusty seven years ago when the owl family lived there. Imagine how bad it is now!
Nearby residents sometimes hear a pair of owls hooting but no one has reported them on the bridge. I wonder where they are.
Read the tale of two owl nests in this vintage article from 2016:
(2016 great-horned owl photo by Dana Nesiti, remaining photos by Kate St. John)
Owls don’t build their own nests. They take over old nests of other raptors
Correct! In both cases the great-horned owls were using red-tailed hawk nests. The hawks reclaimed the Homestead Gray’s nest a few years ago.