An eaglet hatched, and the moment was caught on a webcam for the world to see. Friday morning, the great eagle cam caught the long awaited baby bald eagle cracking out of its egg at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.
An eaglet hatched, and it was caught on the eagle cam at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Two bald eagles given the names – Mr. President and The First Lady – welcomed the first of two baby bald eagles on Friday.
The arrival of the baby bird is being filmed on two high-definition cameras and streamed online by the American Eagle Foundation.
For the last 36 hours, many eyes glued to their screens, awaiting the big event and this morning, at around 7:30 p.m., the adorable eaglet started fighting its way out of the remains of an egg shell. By 8:20 a.m. ET., the tiny white bird was able to come out completely out of its shell.
Shortly after the first eaglet hatched, the proud father, aka Mr. President, returned to the couple’s nest with a fish breakfast for The First Lady. The American Eagle Foundation issued a statement that read:
Egg #1 began the hatching process on Wednesday March 16th around 7:30pm! We will be on egg-watch alert for Egg #2 this weekend. If you want to try and guess the hatch dates/times of the second egg, hashtag #dceaglecam on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook with your prediction (Eastern Daylight Time).
The statement goes on to say:
This is a wild eagle nest and anything can happen. While we hope that two healthy juvenile eagles will end up fledging from the nest this summer, things like sibling rivalry, predators, and natural disaster can affect this eagle family and may be difficult to watch.
Mr. President and The First Lady have been trading off incubation duty, (taking turns sitting on the eggs), since they were laid on February 10 and February 14. The parents will see their second egg hatch later this weekend, and you can watch it happen live.
It is unclear if the eagle babies will be given patriotic names – some are saying they should name the eaglets Sasha and Malia, what say you?
