Just south of Old Town Alexandria, the morning rush hour traffic goes speeding by. Across the four lanes of the George Washington Parkway, a couple of birders armed with binoculars and a photographer equipped with a tripod watch intently from a familiar spot by the Mount Vernon Trail. Up in a leafless tree, a bald eagle stands on a limb, guarding a large nest. For the past several months, this has been a daily scene along the Potomac River. A pair of bald eagles who set up residence in December are attracting a lot of attention.
My daily commute takes me past their nest, and the urge to stop gets stronger each time. This past Tuesday I gave in. My five-minute walk from the parking lot near the Belle Haven Marina was rewarded by not only seeing both of the full-grown adults, but also meeting Paula Sullivan. She is the extraordinary birder/photographer whose photo set I found on-line after Roberta and I stopped to look back on a Sunday in February. Sullivan wonderfully documents the eagles and their behaviors.
With the cars and SUVs racing past, Paula told me about the eagles. As best as she can tell, the eaglets arrived some time around the beginning of March. It's not known how many are in the nest, but the average is 1-3.
As we spoke and watched the nest, the other birder/photographer beside us said, "Here comes the female." We watched in excitement as "Belle," the name given to her by some locals, flew in with long sticks in tow. "Alex" watched intently, no doubt happy to see his partner return.
How long will the family stay? (Paula said they've even been given a last name of Haven -- Belle Haven is the name of the golf course behind the nest and the nearby bedroom community). Hopefully for as long as possible, but enthusiasts worry over the uncertainty. The bald eagle is sensitive to human activity and there's certainly plenty of it nearby. Golf season starts soon and the activity might scare them away. But if all goes well, they'll grace this riverside spot in eastern Fairfax County until summer.
If you go, please park in the parking lot about a third of a mile to the south. Stay along the Mount Vernon Trail and don't walk over to their tree. DDT, loss of habitat and illegal shooting put our national bird on the brink of extinction several decades ago. Let's be good neighbors this time around.
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