The top of a tree is about the worst place to be during a tornadic storm. But lucky for the D.C. bald eagle name named Liberty and her young eaglet, they survived the storm that produced a tornado just a mile away from their nest last Thursday.
Video captured the eagle pair as the storm blew in over their nest perched high above Southwest Washington around 1:40 p.m. Thursday.
Initially, the baby bird was alone in the nest just as strong gusts were arriving. But seconds later, Liberty swoops in and sits on the eaglet to shelter her. As the storm passes, the tree limbs supporting the nest rock and roll, but the nest itself holds firm — as if it was expertly engineered for such a situation.
But storms have the potential to disturb or even destroy nests. A wind storm in February toppled a tree containing a eagle’s nest near Pittsburgh, and was caught on video.
In Thursday’s case, the tree withstood the storm and the nest was fully intact in its wake.
The birds are thriving and you can watch them in real-time on the Earth Conservation Corp. EAGLE CAM 2017.
The eaglet, which has yet to receive a formal name, was born March 15. For now, she is being called ECC1. The Earth Conservation Corp. will name her based on online votes for eight candidates, submitted by the public.
Earlier this spring, mother Liberty had laid another egg, but it failed to hatch.
The father, who is not shown in the above video, is named Justice. While not present in the nest during the storm, it appears to have weathered it just fine.
