D.C. aflutter over eagles

WASHINGTON — Meet John and Abigail.

The Washington, D.C., region’s newest pair of urban bald eagles has set up housekeeping in Arlington, Va., this spring, raising eaglets in a tree in the median of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. They are the third pair of the birds, now on the rebound from endangered-species status, to settle near Washington’s bustling core.

Their new home sits directly over whizzing traffic, and underneath jets on the approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport.

“They just go about their business” in the midst of all that man-made noise, said George Getz, who lives nearby. “And that’s what just blows our minds.”

Getz said people in his north Arlington neighborhood first noticed the birds late last year, as the eagles built their nest in the crook of a tall tree. Getz said he heard the news from a neighbor, screaming out his car window, “We have eagles! We have eagles!”

Now, there are at least four in the nest. Getz said they named the adult birds after John and Abigail Adams, the second U.S. president and first lady and the subjects of a recent HBO miniseries. When they spotted the first eaglet, Getz said, they named it Quincy. At least one other also has hatched.