Second 'Pip' Spotted In Hays' Bald Eagles Nest Just Hours After First Hatching
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Just hours after the hatching of the first Hays eaglet of 2021, a pip has appeared in a second egg.
Expert eagle watchers, observing the new baby, spotted the new pip around 7:30 a.m. when the mother eagle got up and began rolling her other eggs.
The roll revealed a pip in a second egg in the nest.
A "pip" is a "visual sign of a hatch in progress," says the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. The time from pip to hatching takes about 12-48 hours.
- WATCH LIVE: Hays Bald Eagle Cam
The Audubon Society says the newly hatched eaglet likely weighs about 3.5 ounces.
The first eaglet took about 48 hours to emerge after the pip was initially spotted. It was first seen sitting in a half shell around 3 a.m. and finally rolled free from the shell around 4:21 a.m.
The fuzzy baby is covered in soft gray down that will eventually be replaced by thermal down in about 14 days. That means the babies cannot initially maintain their own body temperature.
It takes about nine days for eaglets to develop better eyesight.
