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.

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