“But we met again and again and again.” 
 
 Once considered rare, bald eagles have become increasingly common along New York City’s waterways over the last few years. Seven to 10 of the birds are thought to live on Staten Island, including two adult eagles frequently found at several coastal parks in three neighborhoods. An elated New York City Audubon announced that a pair of bald eagles has been spotted with what appears to be an active nest on the South Shore of Staten Island, making them the first of the species to incubate eggs in the Big Apple in 100 years. Thick-billed but not yet white-headed, the young bird has been photographed taking food from the beaks of the older birds, something that is considered a sign of successful breeding. “This behavior certainly indicates that it is a young bird that hatched recently,” Debra Kriensky, a biologist with the Audubon group, said. But the male spotted this year is believed to be the same male from last year and the same one Mr. Pugliares first encountered in 2013. Officials at the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, which administers the Mount Loretto area, expressed some skepticism that an eagle could have been born on Staten Island, noting that the birds could have wandered across Raritan Bay from nesting sites in New Jersey. The state Department of Environmental Conservation cautions that without a confirmed nest, there's no way to be certain where it was hatched. Unbelievable Animals: Bear Trapped in Subaru 
 
 Avid amateurs think the nest could be hidden deep in the woods of Staten Island. In what is considered a great success story, the birds were removed from the endangered species list in 2007, having rebounded to nearly 10,000 mating pairs. The Audubon reports that it is excited about the bald eagles that are establishing roots in the United States’ most populated city, speculating that there are two reasons for the birds’ change of behavior.
– Between seven to 10 bald eagles call Staten Island their home, but there may be one who can stake a special residency claim, per NBC New York. Although it's only circumstantial evidence so far, birders have recently spotted a young eagle with two adult birds and chowing down on food from their beaks—behavior the New York City Audubon says suggests it may have been the Big Apple's first eagle birth in over a century, per the New York Times. The president of a local park preservation group notes the sight of the young bird feeding leads him to think there's "probable nesting" going on, with an Audubon conservation biologist calling the possibility "exciting." But not everyone's so sure this eagle can pick up its resident sticker just yet: No nest has been found, and the city's Department of Environmental Conservation speculates the eagles could have ended up on SI from nesting sites in nearby Jersey. The Times notes that bald eagles, whose numbers were pared down nearly to the point of extinction by post-WWII pesticides, are making a comeback, not only in Manhattan, but in other cities as well. An apparently active nest populated by a pair of eagles named Vito (after Vito Corleone in The Godfather) and Linda was spotted in April 2015 on Staten Island's south shore, per DNAinfo, but the DEC says their breeding efforts failed. Enthusiasts say it's possible the nest of this fowl family may be hidden somewhere deep in the island's woods, which would explain why it hasn't yet been found. "The way I grew up, we knew about the national bird, but we never saw it," a local who's taken thousands of photos of the island's eagles tells the Times. "Now they're here. I mean, they're right here." (Meanwhile, eagles have been dying in Delaware and Maryland.)