Live Eagle Cam — Big Bear, California

spideyman

Jan. 18

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

2h  · 

Lots of lovey~dovey, with extra pancakes & more fluff on the side please…

After her big stick haul toward the end of last week & wrestling around the nest with that twisty old stick, Jackie must have decided a mini vacay was necessary so they took Friday off to go to the Big Bear Lake eagle spa & relax. The nest was fairly quiet until she returned Saturday afternoon, breathing hard, with another large stick. It's not easy work hauling in those guardrails!

As the sun went behind the clouds, Jackie decided her stick was good where it was so she headed out to the Stick Depot Snag tree(SDS) to meet up with Shadow. As evening neared, the winds calmed down & the sun came back out to highlight the golden mountains by the lake. Just as the tranquility of the view & peacefulness of nature took us all in, Shadow flew onto the back porch. His decision to hop into the nest just as Jackie came crashing in, caused a bit of a collision & she landed right on top of him! Jackie likely wasn't anticipating Shadow's move to the nest & split second timing just took over! After they got untangled, no real harm was done & they moved on quickly. Shadow shook it off & they both went to work on the nest. When their day was done, despite leaving from different porches, they ended up back together in Roost Tree2 (RT2) for the night.

There were some high winds again overnight & Fiona came in for a short visit & snooped around for some snacks with no luck. Sunday was super quiet again with no nest visits from our eagle pair.

Then Jackie made four nest visits on Monday bringing the only stick early in the day. In between her visits, the couple hung out on their favorite perch trees, always in observation mode. On Jackie’s second visit she landed on the High Perch & on the third visit she decided to pancake & laid down to test the bowl for comfort. She was just there long enough to know it's still pretty pokey. She sure does look strong, healthy & ready to be a mama again soon!

She moved a few smaller sticks then posed for some fan photos. She just keeps showing us how photogenic she is & from many different angles! She even showed us her 180° head turn & beautiful white feathers adorning the back of her head. She's looking content & beautiful as always!

Soon after, she left to meet Shadow in a secluded hideaway & though they were not visible on either cam, mating vocals were heard. Shadow then arrived at the nest as it was getting dark, also landing on the High Perch & balancing himself just perfectly as Jackie did earlier.

When he caught a glimpse of his gorgeous Jackie flying around, he jumped into the nest to look busy. He was hoping she saw him this time & her landing would be much better as she was on her way in. She did & it was… she gave herself plenty of space this time! They bumped around together & looked amazing as ever.

They moved some sticks together, then Jackie took on the project manager role while Shadow worked on Jackie's “tree” delivery from last week. He moved it a bit then snapped some twigs off & she supervised until they seemed satisfied. Then off they went to snuggle up & roost together for the evening. Fiona made another appearance but she just scurried through, not finding any leftovers in that big pile of sticks her eagle neighbors call a nest.

Our stunning Jackie made an early morning visit Tuesday with another long, large guardrail in tow. She placed it quickly on the left side of the nest & she then gave her faithful fans another nice pose. The outer edges of the nest are taking on a great shape & are looking very secure. These two are expert nest builders & definitely know what they're doing! Jackie flew off to meet Shadow in the Lookout Snag (LS) where they greeted each other with some good morning chortles. Soon after, they both left, perhaps off to the lake to get some fresh breakfish.

Later in the afternoon, she brought her second stick then used the High Perch as a lookout tower. The two lovebirds flew off to the Stick Depot Snag tree for some mating fun & lots of beautiful chortles then both returned to the nest. Jackie laid down again, just a quick down & up, then after a bit of stick work they ended the evening roosting on RT2.

Wednesday was a fun, exciting & busy day around the nest! Jackie made several nest visits & delivered six sticks plus a big clump of dark, wet grass-type of fluff. She placed it near the bowl, perhaps to dry it out some & then on a later visit she spread it around a little. The fluff is a good sign for Jackie & Shadow that things are progressing & there could possibly be an egg on the way soon.

Shadow only brought one stick in mid-afternoon however he was perched nearby on his favorite trees most of the day & most likely had his watchful eye on Jackie, all the nest activity unfolding, plus any possible intruders nearby. At times he may not seem as active as Jackie before an egg arrives but as soon as it does Shadow quickly gets into his incubating & daddy role. He's proven himself to be a wonderful mate for Jackie & helps her incubate the egg(s) & also brings in the majority of food for their chicks once they hatch. It’s very obvious to all of Jackie & Shadow's beloved fans & viewers around the world that their bond continues to remain strong.

Jackie's pancakes were plentiful today & she will continue with longer sessions, nuzzling her beak down & kicking out sticks with her feet as she lays down to test the bowl for comfort & fit. While she is laying down, she often stays busy by moving smaller sticks or pulling fluff around her to perfect her fit over the bowl.

We hope you are enjoying all the eggciting eagle activity happening in & around the nest. Thank you so much for your support & together we will wait to see what's next for our amazing pair. Take good care & stay tuned everybirdy!

BKind22

spideyman

Jan 21, 2024 #southwestfloridaeaglecam #eagles #baldeagles

E23 is 21 days old today and the growth and development has been pretty astonishing! With excellent nutrition every day, the feather growth on E23 will come in beautifully. Already we are seeing the pin (blood) feathers growing each day as the sheath which encases the primary feathers is opening up and unfurling - at the end we see the tips of the new feather emerging! In the past week, E23's footpads and talons have grown, its feet and legs have yellowed, and its talons have turned almost entirely black. We will see E23 start to have a mohawk look as its sheds the white natal down, which disappears from the head last. E23 has been casting pellets this week and it will become easier as E23 develops more muscle strength. E23 is able to thermoregulate its body temperature now with its thermal down in. E23 is gaining weight rapidly and is about 3 pounds now and this will continue for the next several weeks. It seems that all that E23 does is eat, sleep, recover from a meal and PS. This rest is needed to sustain the rapid growth that is occurring! M15 & F23 continue to feed E23 throughout he day so that E23's crop is huge and bulging at times - even making sitting up difficult. Right now we are a third of the way till fledging. The first half of nest life is gaining weight and growing structural features like footpads, talons, toes and beaks. While some structural growth may occur later on, the second half of nest life is dedicated to feathers and wings as feathers replace down and wings lengthen. We are currently in stage one of the structural growth phase. In their first thirty-five to forty days of life, eagles grow very rapidly, gaining weight and building bones, muscles, tissue, and features like tarsi, footpads, toes, and claws. This phase of development slows down about halfway through an eaglet's time in the nest, even though individual features might continue some level of growth. We have big changes that are on its way! E23 should start standing on its feet briefly during the next week to PS at first. Natal down mohawks will vanish and dark deck feathers will poke through the eaglets' natal down at an astonishing rate. Still enclosed in their keratin sheaths, E23's pinfeathers will grow longer. Eagles grow four sets of feathers - natal down inside the egg, thermal down, juvenile feathers, and adult feathers. Thermal down starts growing at about ten days, juvenile deck feathers at about 20-23 days and juvenile flight feathers at about 27 days, but feather growth doesn't overtake structural growth until thirty-five to forty days after hatch. Flight muscles also begin growing as eaglets wingercize, flap, hover, and eventually branch and fledge. In the upcoming fourth week of development we can expect to see E23 grasping & playing with nesting material, doing some wobbly toe walking and continue to flap its wings as it gains more balance and coordination. E23's pin feathers will continue to grow in rapidly! It is exciting to see all these changes occurring each day as we tune in to watch our eagle family!

spideyman

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

1d  · 

Full commitment…

Yesterday morning Shadow announced to Jackie that he is now completely committed to the nesting process…

…he brought a whole fish to the nest and presented it to her!

It was a full intact fish, head and all. (The head seems to be Shadow’s favorite part and he has sometimes been known to eat that part first before bringing the rest of the fish to Jackie.)

When Shadow arrived, he laid the fish on the snow-covered nest. A little squawk of ‘mine, mine’ could be heard from Jackie in the distance. Rather than eating, Shadow just let the fish lie there as he went about pulling sticks from under the snow.

Jackie soon followed him into the nest as she softly sounded her claims to the fish.

Shadow dragged the fish from in front of Jackie to the middle of the nest and then let Jackie take it. Apparently, he needed to make sure she knew that it was a gift and he fully agreed to giving it to her.

Then Shadow spent several minutes working on the furniture arrangements while Jackie enjoyed her fish gift.

Now that everyone is officially on board for nesting season, let’s watch and see what happens next!

Sandy

spideyman

E23 and M15 in nest.

spideyman

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

1h  · 

Bring Forth The Tea Kettle!

It appears Jackie may be laying an egg right about now! Will she or won’t she?

Watch live on our website: https://www.friendsofbigbearvalley.org/ or on our YouTube channel (with chat): https://www.youtube.com/fobbvcam .

spideyman

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

1h  · 

Shadow’s first glimpse…

Shortly after Jackie laid the egg yesterday, Shadow came flying in with a stick, seeming a little oblivious about what had just happened.

After placing the stick and looking around the area, he seemed to notice that Jackie was behaving a little differently…so, he went around and looked under her from the front.

The view from our wide angle camera caught his priceless reaction…first he seemed to consider it for a moment…then he did a double-take to look again and be sure that he had really seen what he thought he saw…then he sat up, looking serious, as if it was all sinking in…

We thought you might all like to share in his adorable first glimpse.

If you have not seen the egg-laying video, it was posted yesterday - make sure to check our feed!

Enjoy!

Sandy

ps, Shadow is fully aware and helping with incubation today. Please know that the eagles often do not sit full-time on the first egg, until all eggs have been laid. This behavior, known as Delayed Incubation, is geared to make the first egg take a bit longer to hatch and with that it will hatch closer to the same time as the 2nd egg. Bald eagle chicks grow fast, so with the chicks being closer to the same age, they have a more equal chance of sharing in the food and therefore, of survival.

Hedda Gabler

Thank you for this educational information . I was getting worried why they weren’t incubating the egg.  Whew. The more you know….

spideyman

Big Bear egg #2

spideyman

E23 at 28 days/4  weeks and F23

GNTLGNT

....just amazing how a non-descript fledgling turns into such a regal looking bird.....

spideyman

Bald Eagles

Did you know? Bald Eagles are the fastest growing bird in North America? Chicks grow on average of 6 oz per day and reach the size of their adult parents in just 10 to 13 weeks in age, (the age range for fledging - to leave the nest).

Hedda Gabler

Every day i tune in this chick is totally different . 

spideyman

Can is be true????? Egg number 3 for Jackie and Shadow.  ck time stamp(CA time)

spideyman

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

10h  · 

#3!!!!!!!!!!!

Jackie’s first full 3-egg clutch!

At 17:49 this evening, Jackie started looking a little restless…the feathers on her head poked up a bit …and soon her wings flopped to the side, as her body began working. As her feathers puffed out and her tail raised a few times, the pushes became more intense…

…her body trembled ever so slightly as it pushed the egg down its path toward the outside world…and those sweet teakettle sounds came from Jackie as the effort of pushing escaped through her nostrils…

Within a few moments, the effort calmed and Jackie stood taller in what seemed like a final push. The trembling stopped, the teakettle went silent and Jackie’s feathers began laying down…

…it took her a moment to calm and recover. Then she turned enough to show the nest bowl…and THERE WERE 3! Three beautiful, perfect eggs underneath her.

Jackie gently rolled them, softened the nest bowl around them and then settled in on her beautiful clutch.

Shadow will have a surprise waiting for him when he arrives in the morning!

Sweet dreams to Jackie, Shadow…and their 3 beautiful eggs.

Sandy

spideyman

spideyman

Jackie rolls the eggs in a snow filled nest.

spideyman

spideyman

spideyman

E23 at 37 days

spideyman

spideyman

Peek a boo:

Hedda Gabler

SON OF A BITCH!!!!

where in the hell is her husband?  Get your fat ass up Shadow and shovel that snow. NOW! 

GNTLGNT

...."Awright already!!!!.....Sheesh!.....guy goes out for a stroll and catches all sorts of hell!!"....

spideyman

Discussion on Nature Chat
Depending on the location in the Big Bear Lake vicinity, it's already snowed 3" to 4" in the past 3 hours and the total snow cover varies from slightly more than 10" to over 24" already. The question is whether he grounded himself, or if he's perched in thick canopy cover with heavy snow looming overhead.

 I've seen them (*incubating eagles) forced to be nest bound for more than 3-day intervals and there was never deleterious effects to the mommas or the eggs.

She's well seasoned to the snow events here, and so is Shadow. That she knows he's nearby, and he knows she's nearby, they'll get through it like always.

She's going to have to hold off and stay put probably until Thursday morning, if she doesn't make an attempt tomorrow in light snow, because another 3" to 5" is forecasted for Wednesday night.

Shadow Just Chortled In the Distance .. Sounds like the Roost Tree 14:58:20 ... Jackie Answers Back

Now We Know Hes Alright .... Thank Goodness

FlakeNoir

spideyman said:

Discussion on Nature Chat
Depending on the location in the Big Bear Lake vicinity, it's already snowed 3" to 4" in the past 3 hours and the total snow cover varies from slightly more than 10" to over 24" already. The question is whether he grounded himself, or if he's perched in thick canopy cover with heavy snow looming overhead.

 I've seen them (*incubating eagles) forced to be nest bound for more than 3-day intervals and there was never deleterious effects to the mommas or the eggs.

She's well seasoned to the snow events here, and so is Shadow. That she knows he's nearby, and he knows she's nearby, they'll get through it like always.

She's going to have to hold off and stay put probably until Thursday morning, if she doesn't make an attempt tomorrow in light snow, because another 3" to 5" is forecasted for Wednesday night.

Shadow Just Chortled In the Distance .. Sounds like the Roost Tree 14:58:20 ... Jackie Answers Back

Now We Know Hes Alright .... Thank Goodness

I'm sure her "squeaawwwk" was actually, "What the fuck, Shadow?!".