Martha is scarcely cold in the grave, and George has already shacked up with another bald eagle. Worse: It's the nestwrecker who tried to peck to death Martha, George's longtime mate and the mother of his 16 eaglets.
Even the brawny bunch of construction workers on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project near the eagles' nest are aghast. They call the younger bird in George's life "Camilla," "Angelina" and "Charlotte the Harlot." "George has taken a second wife," said John Undeland, spokesman for the bridge project. "He's moving on with his life."
Last April, George and Martha, as nicknamed by the bridge workers, made national headlines when Martha was attacked by -- oh, let's just call her Angelina -- a rival for George's attentions.
Martha, who had lived with George on Rosalie Island on the Maryland side of the bridge since the 1990s, was seriously injured in Angelina's bloody midair attack and was taken to a bird rescue center in Delaware, where she recovered in a few weeks. Bridge workers cheered when she made her way back to her George soon after she was released into the wild in Delaware.
But tragedy struck again in September, when Martha flew into a tree or a power line and dislocated an elbow in her right wing. She was euthanized, and veterinarians said then she was at least 13 years old. A bald eagle's normal life span is about 20 years.
Throughout the ordeal, Angelina -- a far younger eagle than Martha who is described as "in her prime" (aren't they always?) -- never really went away. And now, she has just plain moved into Martha's old home.
"Since January, they've gotten closer and closer, first hanging out on the same branch, one in the nest, the other right beside it, then in the same nest," said Michael S. Baker, environmental manager for the bridge project.
The only thing the two new lovebirds don't seem to have done yet, Baker said, is produce some eaglets.
Baker also said that although George and Martha were acclimated to the heavily traveled bridge, which carries about 200,000 vehicles a day, Angelina might not be "comfortable with all that urban activity." He said workers have also seen the eagles on nearby farm property, one of them carrying a stick, prompting scientists to speculate they might be building another nest elsewhere. Namibia, perhaps? ...Read full article here...