George , Martha, and Angelina

The George and Martha saga continues. You remember, right?—the two long-time mated bald eagles on the Potomac who nest yearly on Rosalie Island near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge? Last year Martha was attacked by another female eagle during nesting season and had to be taken to a rehab center where she finally recovered. After being let loose back into the wild, she found her way back to George and it was supposed to be a fairy tale, live-happily-ever-after ending.

But it wasn’t to be. Martha crashed into a tree or some power lines last autumn and smashed herself up pretty badly. She was euthanized and George became a widower.

And then...this year’s nesting season rolled around with George an eligible bachelor.

From the Washington Post:

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."

Well, read all about it. It’s one of the more amusing articles I’ve read in a while. Of course, I’m sorry about Martha’s death. It was a lousy year for her. But nature is what it is and George didn’t appear to discourage the nestwrecker’s advances after a brief period of mourning. The humans around them will have to make their peace with Angelina. She earns points for determination, anyway. George must be quite a guy.
(Thanks, Phillip!)