Bald eagle hatches in District of Columbia, a second on the way

[March 19, 2016]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A pair of bald eagles known as "Mr President" and "the First Lady" welcomed their first eaglet on Friday in Washington's National Arboretum.

An "eagle cam" provided live footage of the first bald eagles to nest since 1947 in the Arboretum, a park-like conservatory in northeast Washington.

The first egg was laid on Feb. 10 and the other on Feb. 14. The first egg hatched early on Friday and the other is expected to hatch soon.

The pair built their nest in a tulip poplar tree in 2015. The federally protected bird, or Haliaeetus leucocephalus, is featured on currency and in the presidential seal, and was adopted as the national U.S. bird symbol in 1782.

The bald eagle almost disappeared from the United States decades ago, but habitat protection and the banning of the pesticide DDT led to its recovery. The bird was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007.

(Reporting by Kia Johnson; Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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