Not the actual nest. Via Shutterstock.

Not the actual nest. Via Shutterstock.

For the first time in decades, a bald eagle’s nest has been discovered at the National Arboretum. What’s more is that eaglets have apparently hatched in the nest, the Post reports. America!

Though officials with the National Arboretum only announced the discovery of a bald eagle’s nest last week, they’ve been tracking a pair of the animals for the past few months. It wasn’t until recently that they discovered what they believe to be the nest—the first known bald eagle’s nest since 1947—in a tall tulip poplar tree in the park.

This morning, Arboretum officials said they “they believe something is happening in the roughly 90-foot tall tree on the south side of Mount Hamilton.” From the Post:

“We’re assuming by their behavior that something hatched,” said Susan Greeley, an agricultural research technician at the arboretum. She said both adult bald eagles were spotted Monday around mid-morning.

“They were getting up and carefully getting around, seeming as though they didn’t want to squish or step on anything,” Greeley said.

The female bald eagle “turned around” several times in the nest, arboretum officials said. And the male bald eagle was also seen in a nearby tree with a “more guarded behavior” pattern.

“He was grooming himself and then headed back down towards the Anacostia River, probably for more catfish to feed them,” Greeley said.

Officials said they are not sure how many eaglets may be in the nest. Typically, an eagle has one to three eggs at a time and has an average 35-day incubation period.

So how big of a deal is bald eagle’s coming back to D.C. to make their home? Really big.

“This bird coming back to the Nation’s capital is big news and [their nest] is very significant,” District Department of the Environment Director Tommy Wells tells DCist. Wells adds that this is a big win for D.C.’s effort to rejuvenate its environment and help bring back native species, like the bald eagle, that are endangered or haven’t been spotted in the area in a while.

Fish and wildlife officials and experts are expected to do a flyover of the Arboretum within the next week to officially get confirmation of the eaglets and, hopefully, snap some shots of them. They’ll of course, do so in a way to not disturb the animals or their nest and obey federal laws and regulations that protect bald eagles.

Of course, the eaglets already have their own Twitter account:

Filed Under: bald eagle, eaglets, national arboretum,