Kids in Loudoun County Public schools will have a chance to name two bald eagles that are nesting along the Dulles Greenway in Virginia.

       TRIP II, the owner and operator of the Dulles Greenway, is running the naming contest with the school system. Eagles have been nesting in the Leesburg area since 2005, and last fall officials put in live cameras on a tree overlooking their nest to watch them.

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       The winning names will be announced on Facebook on Feb. 11.

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       Officials with the Dulles Greenway, a private toll road that connects the Dulles and Leesburg areas, said the pair of bald eagles started building their nest this year in the wetlands near the highway. Bald eagles typically lay eggs and incubate them between January and April, according to wildlife experts.

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       While there have been no sightings of eggs in the nest along the Dulles Greenway, officials said they’re “hoping the eagles will lay eggs by next month.”

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       According to Dan Rauch, a D.C. wildlife biologist, there are 15 to 20 active bald eagle nests in the immediate D.C. area. The nests are between Mount Vernon and the upper Anacostia River, Rauch said, and they’ve been found based on aerial and ground surveys.

       “It is now a rare day when I’m in the field that I do not see a bald eagle, either during the breeding season or in the winter,” Rauch said.

       In the last few years, bald eagles have made a comeback both nationally and in the D.C. region.

       In the 1960s, Rauch said, there were only 400 breeding pairs left in the Lower 48 states. But bans on pesticides and the Endangered Species Act in the 1970s helped stop their decline, according to Rauch. Eagles were also helped in their population boost by efforts to improve habitat, cleaner air and water initiatives and protections on areas where eagles live. The birds themselves were also able to adopt to their changing environments, Rauch said.

       “They are adapting to nesting and breeding in areas of high human activity. You can now find nests next to highways, on cell towers and in some backyards,” Rauch said.

       Bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007. The birds remain protected under several federal laws and are recognized as the national bird.