Live Eagle Cam — Big Bear, California

spideyman

Big Bear- Molting Time



Just a few days ago Jackie and Shadow were sitting side-by-side in companionable silence. Shadow gently and meditatively plucked one feather off his wing followed by another off his shoulder. Jackie observed the proceedings from her favorite spot on the front porch and even gave Shadow a few beaky kisses for his molting efforts. Eagle plumage consists of over 7000 feathers made of keratin that zip together in an elaborate pattern. This intricate overcoat makes Jackie and Shadow thoroughly equipped for cold climates. As capable as they are, all feathers eventually deteriorate and weaken, and need to be shed and replaced. Molt is an annual process that requires a lot of energy and a lot of time. It usually begins in spring, as the breeding cycle starts winding down. Bald Eagles molt symmetrically (the same feathers are shed on each wing at the same time) and in sequences (not all feathers are shed at the same time). This “schedule” allows them to retain the ability to fly and fend for themselves during molt. Since molt is limited in time and must be completed with the onset of winter conditions, not all feathers can be replaced in one annual cycle. Southern birds tend to have longer summers and shorter winters; they can afford to replace more feathers than their northern counterparts. If you observe Jackie and Shadow closely, you can easily spot older feathers (carried over from last year), as they tend to appear worn, bleached by the sun and have frayed edges. New feathers are usually darker (more colorful) and shiny. This eclectic mix of old and new feathers may sometimes form a checkerboard pattern Both Jackie and Shadow may look a little bit “scraggly” and “unkempt” during molting. Rest assured that they will look their stylist best in the fall, when it’s time again to flirt at the nest and rearrange furniture for their future chicks. Cali

Hedda Gabler

Such interesting updates. Thanks spidey for continuing to highlight them. 

spideyman

E22 was last seen on 6-10-2023 at 9:59am.   May E22 have a safe journey. 

spideyman

6/14

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

3h  · 

Protect, Build and Bond…

Two days ago, Jackie watched from the nest as Shadow whizzed past, in hot pursuit of two bothersome ravens. Then he popped into the nest with a new stick still in his talons. He went to work immediately on the furniture rearrangements and Jackie jumped in to help. Shadow was fine with the assistance, until she got a bit kissy and he snapped back at her—it seems like all the molting may be making him a bit grumpy.

As Shadow continued working, Jackie stayed out of his way, watching around the neighborhood and showing off her own tiny molting feathers. Since Shadow still seemed a tad grouchy, Jackie did only minor complaining as those raven neighbors kept up their dialogue in the background.

Later, when Jackie brought back her own stick, Shadow helped her properly place it—as is required by his ongoing ‘OCDedness.’ Both Jackie and Shadow worked on the nest bowl, watched the neighborhood and sometimes tossed in a few beaky kisses for good measure, as the wind continued bringing in more dense clouds and cold.

Eventually, Shadow had to get back to work on those stinker sticks near the side entrance that just never seem to sit right or stay in place. Jackie pitched in and made the big sticks a joint effort. At this point, Shadow seemed to be making his beaky kisses include a little less ‘grump.’ That side deck needed a lot of corrections and the apparent thrill of all the nest work got him back to his usual teasy self—several times he continued nipping Jackie’s wing or tail until he got a loving reaction from her….

…and the work continued into the evening, with both Jackie and Shadow set on getting that nest upgraded.

spideyman

Hello fellow eagle lovers. I've been asked to post a poem I wrote yesterday about our SWFEC Season 11....just a small reminder of the emotions we've all shared together this season...thanks for reading and for everyone's great contributions to this wonderful site.
Our SWFEC Family Season 11  Outsoaring...........

This season started with hopes for the best
‘til Ian’s destruction put fate to the test.

The days crawled by as we hungered for news
with fear for the community and what they could lose.

A nest in shambles, the eagles astray;
our friends scanned the skies for glimpses each day.

With mighty resolve, H&M did return
and restored the great nest with all they had learned.

As a rainbow brings hope, two eggs were soon laid;
our season renewed from all that we prayed.

Then joy! Two eaglets, a he or a she?
One thing’s for certain, high decibels of squees!

First nestlings, then fledglings, it all went so fast
except losing Harriet; those days never passed.

Our queen of the skies had left with a chase;
Though she doesn’t return, she left us her grace.

M was distraught, a great problem to solve;
He abated our fears with devotion, resolve.

Raising the eaglets and teaching them well,
he filled us with pride and such stories to tell!

All Es must depart and we bid our farewells,
wishing M a great mate and a new Season 12.

spideyman

Happy Father's Day M15

FlakeNoir

Beautiful, thanks Spidey.

spideyman

June 18

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

19h  · 

Fun with Feathers…

Last we heard, Shadow had a good case of the grumpies, but that didn’t last long… The next day while visiting the nest, Shadow was on his game having too much fun pulling at Jackie’s feathers! Jackie didn’t seem too excited about being Shadow’s source of entertainment and moved out to the front porch… Poor mischievous Shadow bowed his head in disappointment that the fun was over… for now .

Jackie and or Shadow have been visiting the nest daily this week, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours. They have added sticks here and there, put in a bit of work on the nest, but seemed perfectly content to spend most of their time perching, preening and relaxing. Eagles spend up to 90% of daylight hours perched.

spideyman

One more tribute to M15. **** The adult he chases off the nest was an intruder- He protects the nest.

Jun 17, 2023

This compilation celebrates your achievements as a phenomenal father! I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you for your remarkable journey as a father as you triumphed against all odds while raising two offspring without the support of your life partner. Your resilience, determination, and unwavering love have been truly inspiring. I want to acknowledge and celebrate your exceptional achievements. Raising eaglets is a challenging endeavor, when faced with hardship, the task becomes even more demanding. Yet, you have demonstrated incredible strength and perseverance, by overcoming obstacles with unwavering resolve. Your determination to provide a loving and nurturing environment for your two offspring is nothing short of commendable. Throughout this journey, you have faced numerous hurdles and overcome them with grace and courage. Your ability to provide for E21 and E22, is a testament to your unwavering dedication and sacrifice. Despite the challenges, you have remained steadfast, showing your offsprings the true meaning of what a father should be. Your success in raising two offspring against all odds is a testament to your unconditional love and unwavering belief in their potential. You have been their rock, their guiding light, and their source of strength. Your commitment to their well-being is a reflection of your exceptional character as a father. Your willingness to go above and beyond to ensure their survival and success is truly admirable. Your relentless efforts serve as role model for others. You have surely laid the foundation for their future. As a father, you have not only endured the hardships but have thrived in the face of adversity. Your resilience, determination, and love have set an example, showing them the importance of perseverance and resilience in the face of challenges. Your journey is a testament to the incredible bond you share as a family and the unbreakable spirit that runs through your veins. I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest admiration and gratitude for your exceptional achievements as a father. Once again, congratulations M15 on your remarkable success as a father. You have truly shown the world what it means to rise above and succeed against all odds. May you find continued happiness and fulfillment in the beautiful journey of fatherhood. With utmost admiration and respect, TheRealSaundersPhotography

spideyman

spideyman

Update from FL cam
From Lady Hawk -- Jun 22, 2023

M15 is still maintaining his territory even though we have not seen him from the cam for the past few days. A Great Blue Heron suddenly takes off from the pond as M15 is flying in to the nest tree. M15 lands on the U branch and along comes his little mockingbird friend to pester him.  It looks like M15's white tail feathers have grown in nicely since his molt! He has a short visit today and then takes off flying towards the west pasture.

During the summer months, both Harriet and M15 would spend most of their time in the west pasture or over at Yonder pond and only make an occasional stop to the nest tree during the off season. It was nice to see M15 today & hopefully we will see him a few more times before the cams go offline at the end of the month.  Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

spideyman

June 24

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

2h  · 

Still here and owning the neighborhood...

The past few days, Jackie and Shadow have mostly been on summer vacation somewhere around the lake, but they stopped by the nest a few times to remind everyone—especially those pesky ravens!—that they are still the owners of this nest and territory.

One morning, Shadow arrived bright and early, straight from their night together on the roost tree. So, he greeted Jackie when she arrived and helped with the new stick she brought in. She let him take care of placing the stick, while she watched around, checking out everything in the neighborhood. After a bit of work, Shadow couldn’t help himself and had to nibble on Jackie’s wing…then he ducked quickly, unsure how she might react to his flirting. But Jackie was apparently in a good mood. She just gave him ’a look’ and went back to her neighborhood watch. That seemed to be all he needed as he went back to his essential nest repair, working here and there all across the nest.

Shadow’s diligent work seems to be contagious and pretty soon Jackie had to start pitching in. She first softened the nest bowl, then got busy on a big ‘sticking-up stick’ that had obviously gotten feisty and moved to the wrong side of the nest. She set about carrying it across the nest and Shadow, of course, had to jump in to assist with this major work of getting that stick to its proper location. As a reward for Jackie's hard work, Shadow nibbled her wing. This time he had a bit of mischief in his eye as he nibbled again and again until he got a nice reaction out of her.

A few days later, those neighborhood ravens had obviously gotten too brazen, so a zipping and zooming chase was in order. Jackie zipped into the nest mid-chase and continued shouting at them while Shadow zoomed by the nest squealing that he was hot on their tail. He arrived with a quick announcement that he had showed them a thing or two about who is boss in this neighborhood. Then Shadow went to work on his nest arrangements while Jackie kept a sharp eye on those ravens, still squawking in the background.

When Jackie moved to the front porch for a nice rest from the work, Shadow joined her there for some lovely side-by-side time. But those neighbors were still stirring up trouble. Shadow soon took off after them, and Jackie followed quickly to join in the chase. There was lots of yelling in the background from both sides as Jackie and Shadow gave those ravens a run around the neighborhood. Then Shadow made one more quick visit to nest, the front porch and the upstairs to check on everything before heading out off the top balcony.

Hedda Gabler

I love these two. 

spideyman

Season comes to end. Cams go down June 30.



From Lady Hawk -- Jun 27, 2023

I am are so grateful to our amazing ground photographers - MLiz Photos, Barb Henry Photography & Desiree Deliz for their dedication and continued coverage of the eagles as the season comes to a close. Both Barb and Liz visited the nest on June 24th & captured M15 and his lady friend on the cell tower! The female is on the left and M15 on the right at the following timestamps
00:14
00:29
00:34 Female moved she is on the right and M15 on left for this photo
00:39
00:45
00:58
01:03 this is the female with her dark eyeliner
02:20 E22 reading "To Kill A Mockingbird"

I also included some additional photos Barb took of M15, the very last photo she took of E22 ♥, Osprey, Spoonbills & a Swallow tailed Kite. Desiree Deliz took some outstanding photos of M15 on the cell tower back in May and of E22 and a mockingbird that just would not leave E22 alone! Be sure to check out the book that E22 is reading, "To Kill A Mockingbird" at the 02:20 timestamp at the end of the slide presentation! Many thanks to Liz, Barb and Desiree for giving me permission to showcase their beautiful photographs ♥♥ Thank you for watching!

Video produced by Lady Hawk

Hedda Gabler

Thank you for such a great job keeping the information coming spidey. I’m gonna miss watching them .  Hopefully big bear eagles continue giving us moments. 

FlakeNoir

Thank you Spidey, this has been wonderful, magnificent creatures. ❤️

spideyman

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam  June 30

15h  · 

All around the lake…

Both Jackie and Shadow showed up for fans at our Outdoor Adventure Days event!

Shortly after Saturday’s activities got under way, Shadow flew into the nest. He immediately shouted at all the nearby ravens, possibly showing off for the fans watching him through the spotting scope from ½ mile away across the bay. Shadow spent 40 minutes in the nest, arranging a stick or two, keeping a sharp eye on those ravens and giving a bunch of fans a chance for a live scope view of him.

A short way up the road, the Outdoor Adventure Days vendor information booths were drawing a crowd—a few hundred event participants were there registering for activities, buying Jackie and Shadow t-shirts and souvenirs, and visiting booths to chat, learn and create. In between the booths, people checked out their own wingspan compared to Jackie’s—no one came close.

One group of birders headed to the nearby trail to spot local birds, some headed off to kayaking, hikes, forest yoga, wildflower walks and boating adventures, while others gathered for the annual Jackie and Shadow fan party. At the party, everyone enjoyed the beautiful Native American dances of Eric Runningpath and his son, Braden. (Here is the video: https://youtu.be/0vmv7lW_-go). Then I gave a talk on the background of Jackie and Shadow and the nest camera, and everyone got a chance to ask their questions about our widely loved bald eagle pair. (Here is the video: https://youtu.be/IUZe0_W9_DE)

On an early evening Eagle Spotting and Lake Birding tour, several FOBBV team members were thrilled to spot Jackie hanging out on a snag near the lake shore! Then they enjoyed beautiful lake scenery and other birds—including a common loon, a Western or Clark’s grebe, a grebe in its lake top nest, a flying great blue heron and

historic Treasure Island.

Lots of people enjoyed a historic tour of the lake on the Big Bear Queen. And as a proper close to the day, Shadow visited the nest shortly before roost time to make sure everything was still in order.

Sandy

spideyman

spideyman

July 2

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam

22h  · 

Summer Days…

Thursday the wide view camera spotted Jackie doing what we would all like to be doing, perched lakeside taking in the summer view. A couple of ravens interrupted her quiet time with a quick flyby, but soon all was quiet again.

Later that evening we saw Jackie & Shadow fly into the stick depot snag, where they perched together for a bit before heading to roost for the evening. Shadow stopped by the nest and of course had a nice hefty stick in his talon, found the perfect spot for it right away, while it appears Jackie got the good spot in the roost tree!

Shadow couldn’t help himself after seeing the nest was such a mess and moved another stick, and another, followed by another… all the while keeping an eye on his lady who was getting comfy in the nearby roost tree. After his short visit, Shadow headed over to join Jackie where they were perched side by side for the night.

Just when we thought summer vacation was in full swing, and we haven’t seen Jackie at the nest for 9 days… here she is Friday afternoon! This was not a quick check on the nest visit, Jackie stayed for over 3 hours! Once out on the front porch, a noisy Steller’s Jay was flipping around the branches, screeching loudly at Jackie. Eventually she was done, snapped at the Jay, who seemed to get the message and soon left her alone.

Jackie spent the rest of her visit preening, taking a quick nap and looking out over the valley. Just before heading out, she seemed to be calling out to Shadow, letting him know to return to the habitat, the day was just about over!

Thank you for tuning in and staying up to date on Jackie & Shadow!

spideyman

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Hedda Gabler

Oh i love this. Sitting in my back yard, so many bird calls. I know quail, doves and hawks but a lot around me I don’t. 

spideyman

A side note concerning the SWFL Eagle cam Pritchett site:   The live feed page had a Chat box, and some had issues accessing it on a cell phone. It was a moderated chat posted several times a week -- sometimes in the afternoon, and also late evenings for the international  and west cost viewers.   As many know, I am more a "lurker' than poster. These chats gave me a wealth of eagle knowledge, and over season 11 I became familiar with members users names.  The calming voice throughout times of hardships, and there were many in season 11, was Essec.  In many ways she reminded me of MsMod.  "Trust the Eagles".... a calming phrase.

On July 1, I read the following announcement:
Today, our SWFEC family mourns the passing of Debbi Skluzak, aka Essec, our head moderator, team leader and dear friend. Essec spent countless hours behind the scenes organizing and disseminating information, operating the cameras, scheduling and managing the classroom chat program and most importantly lifting us up when we needed it the most over the past 10 years. Her passion and dedication was unprecedent. She will be greatly greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and SWFEC community. Fly High & Free Debbi/Essec.

@Hedda Gabler, @FlakeNoir, @GNTLGNT---- as I always see your acknowledgement to my posts here.. may I suggest, as time permits, you google Debbi Skluzak.  I was amazed to read about her life and  dedication to the Eagles.

On eagles wings may she soar...................
 

Hedda Gabler

spideyman said:

A side note concerning the SWFL Eagle cam Pritchett site:   The live feed page had a Chat box, and some had issues accessing it on a cell phone. It was a moderated chat posted several times a week -- sometimes in the afternoon, and also late evenings for the international  and west cost viewers.   As many know, I am more a "lurker' than poster. These chats gave me a wealth of eagle knowledge, and over season 11 I became familiar with members users names.  The calming voice throughout times of hardships, and there were many in season 11, was Essec.  In many ways she reminded me of MsMod.  "Trust the Eagles".... a calming phrase.

On July 1, I read the following announcement:
Today, our SWFEC family mourns the passing of Debbi Skluzak, aka Essec, our head moderator, team leader and dear friend. Essec spent countless hours behind the scenes organizing and disseminating information, operating the cameras, scheduling and managing the classroom chat program and most importantly lifting us up when we needed it the most over the past 10 years. Her passion and dedication was unprecedent. She will be greatly greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and SWFEC community. Fly High & Free Debbi/Essec.

@Hedda Gabler, @FlakeNoir, @GNTLGNT---- as I always see your acknowledgement to my posts here.. may I suggest, as time permits, you google Debbi Skluzak.  I was amazed to read about her life and  dedication to the Eagles.

On eagles wings may she soar...................
 

How sad. I checked her out. She was held in high esteem. RIP. Thanks for sharing. 

FlakeNoir

Thank you Spidey, I'm sorry for all who knew her and mourn her loss. R.I.P Debbi.

GNTLGNT

...RIP Debbi.....