PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A close call for a pair of bald eagles nesting in Hays, after a raccoon attacked their nest.
February’s been a sedentary month for mother eagle, who has spent her days warming the eggs she’s laid.
But at 11:15 p.m. [last] Wednesday, she was asleep on the eggs while protecting them from the cold when — as a night-vision camera shows — her peaceful duty was jarringly interrupted.
Awakened, she turns her head realizing something’s approaching — just before this — a predatory raccoon lunges into the nest and sets upon the three eggs trying to ferret one away.
For a moment the mother eagle jumps back, but then begins flailing her seven-foot wing spread before thrusting out her sharp talons, and in seconds she scares the raccoon away.
Though she can’t be heard, she continues making a loud clamor during his retreat.
“She’s obviously very protective,” Gary Fujak, of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said.
Read more: CBS Local Pittsburgh
