What to Know
- Jackie and Shadow are the world-famous Big Bear bald eagles
- The eagles have been bringing sticks to their lake-close nest as an around-the-clock camera watches the egg-citing action
- Jackie laid her first egg in 2023 on Jan. 11; while we're now in the thick of the eagles' traditional egg-laying season there is no guarantee of eggs appearing or the viability of any eggs that are laid
Redecorating, moving furniture, fussing with the photo frames lining a mantel, or changing the rugs in a room around?
It is busy work, for sure, and you'll find yourself huffing, puffing, and rethinking the whole enterprise more than once. Should you have put the green rug by the door or the table? So many choices to overthink.
Eagles, as they are getting their tree-high aeries ready for potential eggs, are much the same as us in this overthinking regard: These are busy, busy birds, and fashioning the perfect bowl takes plenty of decision-making, backtracking, and moving the same stick multiple times in a day until it is just right.
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Jackie and Shadow, the beloved Big Bear bald eagles, definitely fall into the "busy" category when the weather turns colder.
The world-famous pair begin alighting at their nest, the one that is watched closely by a carefully placed camera, with all sorts of knobby sticks, the sort of small branches and twigs that will help ready their cloud-adjacent pad for any youngsters that might be on the way.
And "stick placement" has been the theme in recent weeks, with both of the sizable birds showing up, again and again, to either add a fresh stick to their Jeffrey pine tree nest or rearrange the sticks that are already there.
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This eons-old behavior tells modern eagle enthusiasts that an egg may soon be on the way, and the colder weather, in addition to the calendar, tells us this could be so: Jackie laid an egg, the first of two, a traditional clutch for her, on Jan. 11 in 2023.
Of course, whether there will be eggs, and whether they will be viable, is always something of a guessing game.
As the knowledgable team at Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit group that operates the nest and wider-view cameras, often says, we're just watching the eagles' world; they're in charge of what happens and when.
Still, if you keep an eagle eye on the feed, you may spy Jackie laying an egg in the days or weeks to come, followed, potentially, by a second egg a few days later at just about the same time of day.
For an in-depth look at what these charismatic characters have been up to in recent days, you'll want to check out the Friends of Big Bear Valley site and social media; there are amusing and informative updates about the birds' antics, habits, and the frequent surprising moments they so often deliver, unknowingly, to their many fans around the planet.
It's just good to keep in mind that while not every season gives people what they want — let's be honest, it's an adorable eaglet we want to see or even two babies, if we're especially lucky — there are those times when a bit of magic seems to visit one of the best-known nests in the world.
Well, it isn't magic, of course, but science.
Still, Spirit, the duo's spunky and spirited sprite, hatched successfully in 2022, and the viewers who watched her quickly grow and fledge would surely describe the experience as magical.
