Bald eagle nests abound along the Susquehanna River. More than a half-dozen nests are active in northern Berks County. A pair of bald eagles has been thrilling viewers along the Little Lehigh Creek just blocks away from center city Allentown.
And the list of eagle nests and eagle sightings could continue across most of Pennsylvania, where the Pennsylvania Game Commission says there are more than 300 active nests, up from just three in 1980.
Despite the big, charismatic bird’s near commonness today, most of us still thrill to the sight of a bald eagle and marvel in observing the birds tending their nests, eggs and hatchlings.
Nest building and renovation has been under way across the state since November or December. Eggs will be laid in mid- to late February and, if the eggs are viable, they’ll hatch in mid- to late March, with young fledging in June, but continuing to stop back at the nest.
For thousands of eagle enthusiasts, both in Pennsylvania and worldwide, the optimum way to observe a Pennsylvania bald eagle nest is online, through one of the three livestreaming nest cams now operating in the state.
A project of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, HDOnTap and Comcast Business, the PA Farm Country Eagle Nest began livestreaming December 18, offering viewers worldwide 24-7 access to live video and audio captured at a bald-eagle nest in rural Pennsylvania. The commission won’t disclose the location of the new nestcam but noted that bald eagles have nested in the vicinity of the site for at least 15 years, and in most years, have successfully fledged three young.
The same partners continue to cooperate on the livestreaming cameras at the Hanover bald eagle nest at Codorus State Park in York County. Since 2015, viewers have enjoyed more than 35 million hours of 24-7, live HD video and audio from that nest, as well as daily time-lapse clips on screens worldwide.
And the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and CSE continue to offer the livestream from the Hays bald eagle nest at Pittsburgh. A second site, the Harmar Township nest, will not have a streaming nest came this year because Audubon deemed the location on a steep slope too dangerous to install a nest cam at the new nest tree there.
For many others, the nest cams are nice, but they don’t provide enough actual nature in the nature-based activity of watching a bald eagle nest. Those watchers prefer a live location in the outdoors.
While eagles now can be seen within a short drive of nearly every home in Pennsylvania, here are some of the state’s best bald-eagle-watching locations.
The lower Susquehanna River, between Lancaster and York counties, where the many pairs of resident birds are joined by additional eagles in fall and winter. The birdwatching platform at the base of the Conowingo Dam, just south of the Pennsylvania-Maryland state line, is one of the most popular eagle-viewing sites in the Mid-Atlantic region, but there are other prime viewing spots at Susquehannock State Park near Drumore and Chickie's Rock County Park near Columbia.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management at Kleinfeltersville has a resident pair of bald eagles with an active nest along the lake’s southern shore, inside the restricted access Propagation Area. The eagle pair is highly protective of their relatively small, 360-acre lake and ponds around it, and tend to drive off interlopers quickly.
Raystown Lake, with its 118 miles of bending and twisting shoreline near Huntingdon, has a year-round population of bald eagles that grows in winter, when other waters in the region become covered by ice.
John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Philadelphia has a resident breeding pair of bald eagles and is visited regularly by eagles from a nest in New Jersey and regular migrants.
In addition to its resident eagles, Glendale Lake in Prince Gallitzin State Park at Patton attracts numerous wintering eagles throughout the winter as well as migrating birds in late winter.
In winter nearly any access spot along the upper Delaware River and the Delaware Water Gap will provide the chance of observing some of Pennsylvania’s largest concentration of wintering bald eagles. As many as 200 of the birds winter there, some traveling as far as 900 miles from the north. The migrants tend to leave the river by mid- to late March. The river also has a healthy population of year-round resident birds.
Bald eagles nest at Shohola Lake in State Game Lands 180, which features viewing towers and viewing stations.
The 3,600-acre David M. Roderick Wildlife Reserve on State Game Lands 314 at Lake Erie offers a big-water look at a considerable population of bald eagles, both resident and migrant birds.
Several pairs of bald eagles nest in the two tracts of Erie National Wildlife Refuge at Cochranton. Several wildlife-watching blinds are positioned throughout the refuge.
Conneaut and Geneva marshes and Pymatuning Reservoirs are an eagle-rich area of northwestern Pennsylvania winter through spring, and home to many active nests.
Moraine State Park near Portersville is primarily a summer-fall viewing area for bald eagles. At least one pair nests in the park, but several others forage 3,225-acre Lake Arthur.
Nesting bald eagles can be skittish at the most critical points in the nesting season and disturbances near the nest site must be kept to a minimum. Here’s the Game Commission’s recommendations for nest-watching etiquette.
Keep at least 1,000 feet from an active nest, roost or feeding area. Use optics like binoculars or a telescope to view the eagles at a distance.
Even at that distance, if you must talk, whisper.
Use your vehicle or boat as a blind. Eagles often are more alarmed by pedestrians.
Avoid sudden movements and movements directly toward the eagles or the nest.
Don't make the birds fly. Flushing an eagle off a nest may expose the eggs or young eaglets to cold or wet weather or a nest predator. It also causes the birds to waste precious energy and may cause them to leave a valuable meal behind or abandon a nest that they are constructing.
Watch how the eagle reacts to your presence. If it acts agitated, vocalizes repeatedly or starts moving away, you are too close.
Respect restricted zones. They protect eagle nesting areas. And you're breaking state and federal laws if you enter them.
Respect the privacy of the landowner. Don’t tell everyone about a new eagle nest. It can attract people who will not use proper etiquette and otherwise draw unnecessary attention to a nest. If you unexpectedly stumble onto an eagle nest or hear an eagle vocalizing overhead, leave immediately and quietly.
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