Raven! (
It’s been an excellent couple of years for birds in the District. Eagles returned to D.C. for the first time in 50 years in 2015. And now an even rarer bird has made an appearance: ravens are nesting in D.C. for the first time in a century. (Our neighbors in Baltimore got their NFL franchise name from Edgar Allan Poe, not local wildlife.)
Two birds, one male and one female, were spotted nesting along the Potomac River, the D.C. Department of Energy & Environment told NBC Washington. Fisheries and wildlife biologist Dan Rauch calls the return of the ravens and eagles “two big milestones just in the last few years.”
He told NBC, “It’s a good barometer for environmental health. It’s also a good barometer for those species in general.”
Both the D.C. Department of Energy & Environment, and NBC are keeping the ravens’ location secret, so that they can nest in peace. The baby ravens are due early April.
Meanwhile, folks at the National Arboretum expect eaglets to hatch as early as today.
