Back Off!

A Pennsylvania station was told to back off from a nest of bald eagles.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission fined a local birdwatcher and gave warnings to a WGAL (Lancaster) News Crew for interfering with a York County eagle nest.

Karen Lippy pleaded guilty to interfering with the nest and paid a $234 fine, according to court documents filed Feb. 27 with Magisterial District Judge Thomas Reilly.

The WGAL employees each received two warnings, one for interfering with the nest and another for disturbance of wildlife. The Game Commision declined to name the members of the news crew.

Lippy said she took the camera crew too close to the nesting bald eagles while filming a segment for WGAL in February. The disturbance caused one of the birds to leave the nest for a time, and an egg unattended in freezing weather, she said.

"I said from the beginning it was my fault," said Lippy, a member of the York Audubon Society.

Federal law requires birdwatchers to stay at least 660 feet away from an eagle nest, Lau said.

A crew member was about 200 feet away from the nest, Lippy said.

WGAL news director Dan O'Donnell was not immediately available for comment, but station officials previously denied the crew got anywhere near the tree.

 H/T The Evening Sun