If the Earth Conservation Corps' bald eagle camera were a low-budget soap opera, season 3 is kicking off with a controversial conception.
If you weren't caught up on season 2's cliffhanger of an ending: longtime lovers at the National Arboretum, Mr. President, a male bald eagle, and the First Lady, his seven-year nestmate, headed to splitsville, and we met a new character. Enter: a new, younger female bald eagle, V5. In the winter months of 2020 and 2021, around five female and male bald eagles dropped by the seemingly happy couples' digs in the heights of a tulip poplar. A fiesty First Lady chased away all but one vistor — V5 (V5 stands for Visitor 5, as she was the fifth bird to visit the nest). In a sick twist of irony, the First Lady, who hatched seven chicks at the Arboretum with Mr. President, abruptly flew away on Feb. 14, 2021. (And you think you had a bad Valentine's Day).
Within 24 hours, V5 had filled that empty spot in the bed nest, and Mr. President was spotted quickly nuzzling feathers and sharing food with his new lady. Fast foward a year: V5 (now known as LOTUS, short for Lady of the United States) laid an egg Thursday evening — the first bald eagle egg to be laid at the Arboretum since 2018.
The newly laid egg is the latest twist in bald eagle drama for Washingtonians. Before Mr. President and the First Lady stole the spotlight, viewers were captivated by D.C.'s other pair of nesting eagles — Liberty and Justice. The main characters of eagle cam season 1, the two took us on a tumultuous journey through Justice's hit-it-and-quit-it attitude, Liberty's brief rebound romance with a male eagle named M2, and ultimately the couple's reconciliation at their nest above the D.C. Police Academy in Southwest.
According to Dan Rauch, a biologist with D.C.'s Department of Energy and the Environment, new parents Mr. President and LOTUS could likely welcome another egg sometime Friday or Saturday. (Bald eagles can lay up to three eggs.) If all goes according to plan, we could see eaglets hatch in around 34-36 days. Since LOTUS laid her egg Thursday evening, Mr. President has been an attentive partner, according to Rauch, taking over incubation duties while she stretched her wings and grabbed a bite to eat.
"It's been pretty good," Rauch says. "They seem to be a really great pair together."
Rauch suspects LOTUS is probably around five years old. When she first arrived at the nest last year, she had a lot of brown streaking on her head and tail, lacking the full white head and white tail indicative of eagle adulthood that she now proudly dons.
As for what else eagle cam viewers can expect from season 3, no one can say. Bald eagles typically mate for life, and Rauch says that LOTUS and Mr. President were seen together even in the off-mating-season months, vacationing at a riverside. While the First Lady was known for disappearing in the warmer months and returning in October or November (such is the cuffing season cycle), Mr. President and LOTUS "seemed like they spent a lot of time together" last year.
The circumstances surrounding the First Lady's disappearance and her current whereabouts remain unknown. She and Mr. President were having some trouble in the bedroom before LOTUS' arrival, according to Rauch, after a few failed mating seasons. This could explain why she packed her bags and left. She's untagged, meaning biologists have no way to track what she's up to now. (One could imagine she's listening to Olivia Rodrigo's "Traitor" on repeat, or stalking the Instagram of Anna Marie Tendler, whose relationship with comedian John Mulaney met a similar fate.)
"She's a woman of mystery," says Rauch.
This story is from DCist.com, the local news site of WAMU.
