WASHINGTON — “Mr. President” and “The First Lady” have a more-crowded nest.
The pair of bald eagles nesting above the U.S. National Arboretum welcomed another eaglet into the world early Thursday. Known as “DC7” in its egg form, it finished hatching at about 4:13 a.m.
It’s been an eventful week for D.C.’s “First Family” of eagles. On Monday, the eaglet known as “DC6” finished hatching.
“It’s always questionable when you have eggs whether they’ll make it through that 35 days [of incubation] without being affected, especially when you have rogue eagles visiting close to the nest and the birds are getting excited,” said Al Cecere, founder and president of the American Eagle Foundation.
Both eaglets seem to be getting along with each other, he said.
“There’s always going to be a bit of sibling rivalry, especially when you have one bird younger than the other,” Cecere said. ” … But right now, I think they’re doing very well together.”
The parents are handling their new spawn with trademark dignity and stoicism. They have experience, after all: Since the pair began nesting above the arboretum in 2015, they’ve had seven eaglets.
“They seem to be very attentive to the situation,” Cecere said. “They’re feeding the babies very well together.”
Over 2 million have viewed the hatchings online, via the D.C. Eagle Cam.
