World’s Eagle-Watchers were Awed at What They Saw on ‘Eagle Cam’

Bald eagles "Mr. President" and "the First Lady's" second eaglet hatched on Sunday, two days after its elder sibling went out of its egg shell at the Washington's National Arboretum. The event was seen worldwide through a live webcam.

The live footage was seen through the "eagle cam" attached to the bald eagles' nest. The eaglet came out 3 a.m., more than 12 hours earlier than expected.

The first egg was laid on Feb. 10 while the second was laid 4 days after. The pair of eagles built their nets in the Arboretum in 2015, the first bald eagles to do so since 1947, according to Reuters.

"Things are going to get a lot more interesting with four in the D.C. Eagle Cam nest! Mr. President and The First Lady are going to have their hands full!" the American Eagle Foundation, a conservation group dedicated to protecting bald eagles, wrote on its Facebook page.

The first sign of crack was seen Saturday morning. By mid-morning Sunday, the second eaglet had been eating and trying to gain strength. Daniel Rauch said that the baby eagle has been well taken care of by its parents. "They've been very good ­co-parents," he added.

The eaglets, whose genders are still unknown, are expected to stay in their nest until they are 12 or 13 weeks old. During these days the parent eagles will be keeping the eaglets warm, feed them and defend them from possible threats, Washington Post reported.

"They're like a modern American family," said Julia Cecere, spokeswoman for the American Eagle Foundation, which provided the streaming service.

The bald eagles or Haliaeetus leucocephalus are federally protected. These eagle species almost faced extinction decades ago. However, banning pesticide DDT and habitat protection helped them survive. It was removed from the list of endangered species in 2007.