'Mr. President and The First Lady: The DC Eagle Cam Project' is Released

What will likely become the most talked about book among bald eagle enthusiasts in 2017 is now available for pre-order on www.eagles.org.

Mr. President and The First Lady: The DC Eagle Cam Project, co-authored by Teena Ruark Gorrow and Craig A. Koppie in cooperation with the non-profit American Eagle Foundation, documents the true story of Mr. President & The First Lady, a pair of wild American bald eagles. The two eagles became international internet sensations while nesting in the nation's capital in 2016 thanks to two high-definition, live-streaming cameras placed above their Tulip Poplar nest in the U.S. National Arboretum. The cams were live-streamed on dceaglecam.org and received more than 63 million views in five months.

With an educational storyline and more than 300 nest cam images and photographs, this hard-cover, coffee table-worthy book allows readers to learn about and re-live the story of Mr. President & The First Lady all the way through their second nesting season. Images of nest-building, egg-laying, egg-hatching, and the amazing transformation of eaglets Freedom & Liberty from hatchlings to fledglings will surely thrill bird lovers of all ages.

After the writing of this book commenced in the summer of 2016, the eagle parents returned to their nest. They now are preparing for their third nesting season. The First Lady is expected to lay eggs in mid-February and the eaglets are expected to hatch just 35 days later. Catch all the action on www.dceaglecam.org.

"It was truly an honor to work with the American Eagle Foundation to showcase our national emblem - our national bird - in the nation's capital," said Gorrow, a professor of teacher education at Salisbury University on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Through their collaboration, Gorrow and Koppie, a raptor biologist with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, hope to inspire in others an appreciation for wildlife and promote environmental stewardship.

Mr. President and The First Lady is the third book collaboration by Gorrow and Koppie through Schiffer Publishing. The authors' other titles include Inside a Bald Eagle's Nest, which won the Green Earth Book Award in 2014, and the recently released Inside an Osprey's Nest.

ABOUT THE D.C. EAGLE CAM PROJECT: In 2015, American Eagle Foundation staff traveled to D.C. to install state-of-the-art cameras, infrared lighting, and other related equipment in-and-around the nest tree with the help of volunteers and experienced tree climbers. The USDA's U.S. National Arboretum ran a half-mile of fiber optic cable to the cameras' ground control station, which connects the cameras to the Internet. The entire system is powered by a large mobile solar array (containing several deep cycle batteries) that was designed and built by students and staff from Alfred State College, SUNY College of Technology and was partially funded by the Department of Energy and Environment. USNA has implemented a backup generator that will kick-on if prolonged inclement weather causes the solar array to provide insufficient power to the system. In 2016, APEX Electric Inc. (Kenmore, Washington) traveled to D.C. to assist the AEF in successfully installing audio equipment in and around the tree.

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