Tragedy and violence at the Hanover bald eagle nest

Hanover, Pa. — The new parents at the Hanover Bald Eagle nest won't be receiving parent of the year awards this year.

The new parents named Duke and Duchess, had been working on incubating two eggs in the nest since February. The eagle nest is located in Codorus State Park and has become a popular topic of conversation thanks to a live stream.

Related Reading: Hanover Bald Eagles have lay first egg of 2024

In early April, the eggs began to 'pip,' meaning they were soon to hatch. On April 7, Duchess was seen laying a fish on the edge of the nest. Duke, the male eagle, tried to take the fish, which led to a kerfuffle in the nest during which the parents trampled on one of the eggs, according to the York Dispatch .

On April 8, after a brief camera outage, the other chick had hatched and was seen inside the nest. The little eaglet's life was cut short, however, when Duke flew into the nest while Duchess was gone.

The father took one look at his progeny and "took it to the edge of the nest and started plucking it" eventually leaving the little bird's deceased, limp body at the edge of the nest, an avid birder and witness to the carnage told the York Dispatch . Upon returning to the scene, Duchess reportedly ate the dead eaglet and proceeded to eat the trampled, unhatched egg, too.

It's not totally clear what led to the Hanover nest tragedy, but possible reasons include: inexperience of the new parents or that Duke's hormones did not fully switch him into incubation and brooding mode, leading to an aggressive response to the new hatching.

Despite the tragedy, bird watchers and eagle enthusiasts remain hopeful that the future of eaglets is bright for the Hanover nest–just not this year.