Pittsburgh Community Mourns the Sudden Loss of Twin Eaglets on Popular Nest Cam

Despite the fact that the Bald Eagle is the national bird of the United States, it's not all that common to see them in the wild if you live in the US, depending on what state you happen to be in. But that's where technology comes in.

For nearly 15 years, the PixCams live stream of the Bald Eagles who live in the Glen Hazel area of Pittsburgh has allowed people to tune in to a feed of the birds, especially recently, when the community was enthralled by a pair of twin eaglets who were born on the feed. Sadly, their story has now come to an absolutely heartbreaking ending.

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Update: It was announced Monday, May 18, that the second eagle died during the early morning hours. This is an incredibly difficult moment for everyone who has followed and cared about this nest," PixCams said in a statement. --- An eaglet at the Glen Hazel nest has died following an unknown illness, officials say. The eaglet, referred to as GH4, died Sunday morning, according to a joint statement from Tamarack Wildlife Center, PixCams and the Glen Hazel "eaglecam" team. The other eaglet, GH3, is also ill, and the mother may also be showing signs of illness. The cause and origin of the illness remain unknown. "It's been brutal," Carol Holmgren, the Executive Director of the Tamarack Wildlife Center, said of watching the live stream of sick eaglets. "These birds are members of our family."

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As multiple outlets, including CBS Pittsburgh, have reported, earlier this week, both of the baby eagles have died after livestream viewers have watched them suffering for days over the feed, hoping that they'd both be able to recover and thrive.

And even though Carol Holmgren, the director of the Tamarack Wildlife Center, wanted to help these eagles, a federal policy prevents humans from intervening in an eagle's nest if what is happening is from natural causes, which was the case with these eaglets.

On Sunday, one of the baby eagles died, while their twin died on Monday morning.

Holmgren said it was the moderators of the eagle cam who first noticed that something was wrong, leading to the first eaglet deaths in the history of the stream. Their mama eagle has been showing signs of illness, too, which is sad beyond words, especially since she was the first eagle to nest in the area in 150 years.

Related: This Mama Bald Eagle's Dedication to Her Babies Is Melting Hearts

How Officials Say These Eaglets Died

It's not clear exactly how the Glen Hazel eaglets died just yet, but it does appear to be from an illness of some kind, possibly even the bird flu.

"The signs that we've been seeing from the eaglets and the disease progression, the illness progression are all totally consistent with avian influenza," Holmgren told CBS News.

She shared that bird flu has been spiking in Pennsylvania, and it's likely that the eaglets were eating geese who were infected, which then made them infected.

There is one glimmer of hope at the end of this story, though: The eaglets' dad is doing just fine, and their mama is starting to improve, and is "demonstrating more vigor and more appetite."

Fingers crossed that she continues to recover.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 11:30 AM.