The signs have been building, thrillingly, in recent weeks: The impromptu nest visits, the moving of sticks, the cozy, possibly amorous assignations in nearby trees.
Jackie and Shadow, the world-famous Big Bear bald eagles, seemed primed to welcome an egg.
That was the feeling among the thousands of fans viewing their adorable antics via a nest-close live feed and the team at Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nature-championing nonprofit that oversees the cameras that watch the much-adored birds.
Those feelings — call them "eagle sense," if you're feeling especially poetic — turned out to be correct: Jackie laid an egg in the later afternoon of Wednesday, Jan. 22.
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The bird's "tea-kettling," a term that colorfully describes the sounds made during the telltale event, was the exciting giveaway that an egg was on the wonderful way.
This is a few days earlier than her first egg of 2024, which made its grand debut Jan. 25.
Whether there will be more eggs soon to come remains a question, though Jackie has laid a second egg around three days after the first, almost to the exact time, in past years.
The bald eagles, and their enduring partnership, have captivated people around the world; stay up to date on the duo's newest addition, and any eggs to come, at the Friends of Big Bear Valley site and the organization's social feeds.
Will there be an eaglet, or eaglets, later this winter? Keep a talon on the moment-by-moment nest story via the nonprofit's always-streaming feed.
