|
Contact: Emily Linroth, 202-619-7156
A pair of eagles nesting in Shepherd Parkway in D.C. hatched a very special Easter egg: One of their two eggs hatched on Sunday, and the other egg hatched Monday. You can see and hear the eagles and their new eaglets on Earth Conservation Corps' EagleCam. Liberty and Justice are a pair of bald eagles who have raised young for 11 years in a nest 110 feet up an oak tree in Shepherd Parkway, a road and forested national park in Southwest Washington, D.C., that is home to wildlife and contains two Civil War forts. Earth Conservation Corps' EagleCam is located at the Metropolitan Police Academy just outside the park. "The hatching of this eaglet and the two across the river at the National Arboretum are evidence that fish are returning to the Anacostia River, and that the health of the Anacostia watershed is improving," said National Park Service Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail. "The EagleCam connects people from all over the world with incredible wildlife like these eagles that thrive in urban national parks." The Shepherd Parkway eagles and the pair nesting at the National Arboretum are an urban wildlife success story. Pollution forced bald eagles to abandon their last D.C. nest in 1946. In 1994, the teenage volunteers of the Earth Conservation Corps relocated 16 eaglets from nests in Wisconsin to an artificial "hack box" at the U.S. National Arboretum. After being raised for six weeks at the Arboretum, the juvenile eagles were released into the skies over Washington. Four eaglets were released every spring from 1994 to 1998. In 2005, Liberty and Justice (named by D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier) built their nest at Shepherd Parkway. In 2015, Mr. President and First Lady finally picked a nest site where it all began at the National Arboretum. "In this centennial year of the National Park Service, the Earth Conservation Corps is thrilled by our partnership with NPS and the Metropolitan Police Department that is enabling us to share this conservation success story with the city and the world. We are thrilled to be hatching hope in this centennial year of the National Park Service," said Robert Nixon, Co-Chair of Earth Conservation Corps. Youth are learning about nature and science through experiences like EagleCam, the Anacostia River Festival, and NatureFest spring break camp at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens. The eagle camera and an osprey camera as well as a satellite tracking research project are all part of the Earth Conservation Corps' citizen science program, Anacostia Raptor Watch. The National Park Service works with the Earth Conservation Corps to engage neighborhood youth in service projects in national parks and in restoring the Anacostia River. |
Last updated: March 29, 2016