Internet-famous bald eagles Jackie and Shadow potentially lost one of their three eaglets overnight. Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the 24/7 live cam, posted a statement Friday morning acknowledging that only two of the eaglets could be seen.
“During the first feeding session today only two chicks were visible,” the statement reads. “We cannot see the entire nest bowl because the view remains partially obstructed by snow. We are observers of nature and do not know the entirety of the current situation.”
Viewers tuning into the Big Bear Bald Eagle Live Nest Friday morning expressed shock and sadness when only two of the eaglets were visible in the nest around 6am PST. A snowstorm battered the area Thursday night, dumping up to two feet of snow in the San Bernardino mountains. Jackie could be seen sheltering the eaglets overnight as winds shook the nest.
Earlier this week, Sandy Steers, executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, told Popular Science that weather was their biggest threat to the trio going forward. Eagles don’t develop their waterproof feathers and layers of down until about six weeks after hatching.
According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, only 50 percent of bald eagle eggs successfully hatch and 70 percent survive their first year. In 2024, Jackie and Shadow’s trio of eggs failed to hatch and in 2023, ravens ate the pair’s eggs. The couple did have have had one chick in 2019 and one in 2022.
This is a developing story…
