Mr. President & The First Lady's Two Eggs Are Soon Due to Hatch at National Arboretum on DC Eagle Cam!
March 24 2017 - 8:05AM
Business Wire
Viewers from around the globe are now on 'hatch-watch'
anticipating the arrival of two adorable bald eaglets in our
nation’s Capital
The millions of viewers who have become addicted to watching
bald eagles “Mr. President” and “The First Lady” on the DC Eagle
Cam (http://dceaglecam.org) may want to keep their eyes glued to
their computer screens beginning this weekend to hopefully see two
fuzzy eaglets emerge from their eggs.
This Smart News Release features multimedia.
View the full release here:
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Mr. President and The First Lady proudly
watch over their eggs as they wait on them to hatch in Washington,
D.C. (Photo: Business Wire)
The first egg was laid on February 19 and the second was laid on
February 23. Because the average incubation period for an eagle egg
is 35 days, the American Eagle Foundation expects the first eaglet
to begin hatching around Sunday, March 26 with the second beginning
to hatch around March 30. This is just an estimate, however, and
may vary by a day or two.
Each eaglet has an "egg-tooth" on the tip of its upper beak,
which is used to crack holes in its eggshell from the inside. The
first hole made in the shell is called a "pip.” It sometimes takes
up to 24-48 hours for an eaglet to fully emerge from its shell
after the first pip.
"The amazement of watching a tiny eaglet emerge from its fragile
egg shell is a miraculous wonder of nature,” says American Eagle
Foundation President Al Cecere. "Watching the eagle parents
delicately feeding and brooding their young is a very special and
unforgettable experience not to be missed."
Once hatched, these two eaglets will (for now) be called DC4 and
DC5, as these will be the fourth and fifth eaglets raised in this
nest located at the top of a Tulip Poplar Tree in the U.S. National
Arboretum in Washington, DC.
Last year, the cams were viewed more than 10 million times
during the several-day hatch period of eaglets, DC2 & DC3.
Viewers who think they can guess the exact day and time that the
eggs will hatch should hashtag #dceaglecam on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram with their prediction (Eastern Standard Time).
ABOUT THE D.C. EAGLE CAM PROJECT
In 2015, the American Eagle Foundation (AEF) staff traveled to
D.C. to install state-of-the-art cameras, infrared lighting, and
other related equipment in-and-around the nest tree with the help
of volunteers and experienced tree arborists and climbers. This
past year, the AEF added microphones near the nest to further
enhance the viewing experience, and a team of arborists and eagle
experts affixed natural tree limbs beneath the nest to provide
added support. The USDA’s U.S. National Arboretum ran a half-mile
of fiber optic cable to the cameras’ ground control station, which
connects the cameras and microphones to the Internet. The entire
system is powered by a large mobile solar array (containing several
deep cycle batteries) that was designed and built by students and
staff from Alfred State College, SUNY College of Technology and was
partially funded by the Department of Energy and Environment. USNA
has implemented a backup generator that will kick-on if prolonged
inclement weather causes the solar array to provide insufficient
power to the system. In 2016, APEX Electric Inc. (Kenmore,
Washington) traveled to D.C. to assist the AEF in successfully
installing audio equipment in and around the tree. The AEF uses
Piksel to stream the video images to viewers around the world, and
AEF volunteers are trained and coordinated to pan, tilt and zoom
the cams, as well as educate the public via LIVE chats while
viewers watch the eagles via the cams on the Internet.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170324005057/en/
American Eagle FoundationJulia Cecere, 865-234-0431AEF
Marketing, P.R. & Social Media Managerjulia@eagles.orgorAl
Cecere, 865-809-2385AEF Founder & Presidental@eagles.org