After A Bitter Breakup, National Arboretum Bald Eagles Welcome New Egg

Colleen Grablick | https://twitter.com/colleengrablick



LOTUS and Mr. President take turns watching over the nest, where a newly laid egg sits at the National Arboretum.

Screenshot / American Eagle Foundation Eagle Cam

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.

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