The mother of the first chick to hatch in the Hays bald eagle nest checks out her hours-old offspring, which began cracking its shell on Monday morning. The second chick hatched on Tuesday, and there’s one egg left to go.

A pair of bald eagles that returned to their nest in the Hays section of Pittsburgh for the ninth year witnessed the first of their three eggs hatching Monday morning and the second on Tuesday, as did thousands of eagle enthusiasts who watch the nest via an online feed.

An Audubon Society camera, which is attached to a nearby tree and trained on the nest, showed the first egg cracking early Monday.

Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, explained the process of an eagle hatching is not instantaneous and sometimes takes up to 24 hours.

Bonner said the chick first pokes its beak into a void in the egg that contains air instead of liquid, and begins breathing for the first time.

“Then it begins to chip its way out,” Bonner said.

The eaglet uses an egg tooth, or small bump on top of its beak, as a sort of can opener to crack one end of the egg off.

Once that cap comes off, the support system inside the egg that sustained the chick begins to deteriorate, which takes time, Bonner said.

“Nothing can be done to speed up the process, so the parents don’t help break them out,” Bonner said.

The baby bird then begins kicking its way out of the egg.

“It’s up to the chick to do it on its own,” Bonner said.

He said the parents may vocalize while the chick hatches to encourage it or to bond with the baby eagle.

A yolk sac that provides nutrition to the chick while inside the egg continues to offer sustenance as the hard work of hatching continues.

Newly hatched chicks like the ones that appeared in the Hays nest Monday and Tuesday weigh about five ounces, Bonner said.

The parents take turns keeping the baby chicks and other egg warm, and will feed the new chicks small pieces of fish or other small animals brought to the nest.

“Unlike some birds, where parents may ingest food and regurgitate it to feed the chick, (eagle chicks) eat the meat directly,” Bonner said.

He said because the three eggs were laid two days apart, the third chick could hatch any day.

“By the weekend, we might have a full nest,” Bonner said.

He said the Pix Camera has been filming the nest for nearly seven years in a collaborative effort between Pix and the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Volunteers take turns manning the camera, zooming in and out or panning over the nearby Monongahela River.

In addition to the ability of the masses to witness the goings-on in an eagle’s nest, Bonner said a main benefit of the Hays eagle cam is to encourage an appreciation for nature in general.

“It serves as an ambassador to the rest of nature, because what is going on inside that nest is going on everywhere around us, including your own back yard,” Bonner said. “It’s the ultimate learning opportunity to become engaged with nature.”

Bonner said he glimpses the nest cam footage when it automatically pops up as his computer powers on, and he watches recorded footage often.

Like countless others, he awaits the hatching of the final chick in the near future.

“Fingers crossed for the rest of the week,” Bonner said.