Amid the treetops, swaying in the wind above roaring lanes of traffic, a fuzzy white head bobs as the sharp beak of a clear-eyed parent offers a tasty morsel.

The D.C. region’s latest on-camera star has been born: an eaglet, hatched high above the Dulles Greenway. The first of two eggs in the nest, known as DG1, hatched at 8:48 am on March 13.

“What an adorable eaglet s/he is!” reads an online activity log for the Dulles Greenway nest. “Welcome to the world little one.”

The nest is located in an area of wetlands set aside to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of the six-lane toll road, in partnership with the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy.

The Dulles Greenway Wetlands have been home to nesting bald eagles since 2005. But this is the first time they’ve done their business in front of the prying eyes of countless internet viewers. Web cams were installed aimed at the nest in 2021.

The eagle parents arrived in the nest in the fall of 2021. Through a naming contest with Loudoun County Public Schools, the eagles were dubbed Martin and Rosa, after Civil Rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Rosa laid the eggs, DG1 and DG2, on Feb. 1 and Feb 4. respectively.

About a half hour after DG1 hatched, Martin flew off from the nest, leaving the new mama with her baby.

“Proud Papa returns with food for the pantry at 9:36 a.m.,” reads the log from Sunday. “It appears that a live duck is on the menu this morning.”

“Precious little fuzzball DG1 pops her/his little head from the bowl while Rosa prepares the duck to be eaten.”

As of Monday, DG1 appeared to be healthy and growing, while the parents continued to tend to still-unhatched DG2.

“DG1 is a fluff ball of energy and getting stronger by the minute,” reads a log entry from Monday morning.

The Dulles Greenway eagle cam is the latest in the region, which already has several famous on-camera raptors. Last month, the high-drama eagles at the National Arboretum, Mr. President and LOTUS, welcomed an egg. Nearby, at the Metropolitan Police Academy in Southwest D.C., eagles Liberty and Justice have had a years-long on-again-off-again romance.

Bald eagles generally lay two to three eggs in a season, with parents taking turns incubating them for 34 to 36 days. Young eaglets stay in the nest for 10 to 12 weeks.

Bald eagles were once a common sight across the United States, with as many as 75,000 birds nesting each year. But in the 20th century they were nearly wiped out through habitat destruction, hunting, lead poisoning and pesticide poisoning. By the early 1960s, there were just over 400 nesting pairs left.

In recent decades bald eagles have made a partial comeback, thanks to conservation measures. There are an estimated 7,000 breeding pairs and the birds are no longer considered endangered.