Jackie, of the beloved bald eagle pair documented via the Friends of Big Bear Valley livestream, has laid her second egg in her second clutch of the 2026 following a nest attack in late January. The arrival of the new egg happened on Friday evening, as the Friends of Big Bear Valley Eagle Nest cam showed.
The youngest in a trio of bald eaglets hatched from a nest at the U.S. Steel Plant just outside Pittsburgh recently had surgery after swallowing a fish hook.
U.S. Steel Irvin in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, has an eagle nest camera that watches Irvin and Stella, a pair of bald eagles, who lay eggs every season and raise their eaglets.
At the end of March, the first of the three eggs hatched, and a short while later, the other two eggs followed.
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On April 18, the youngest of the eaglets swallowed a fish hook and a filament line that was inside a fish that one of the eagle parents brought to the babies.
An X-ray of the eaglet, showing the fishhook in its stomach.
(Dr. Jesse Fallon/Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia / FOX Weather)
“Some sharp-eyed viewers on the eagle cam caught what happened, and a mobilization effort began to rescue the eaglet,” U.S. Steel Media Representative Andrew Fulton said.
Fulton said it was determined that the eaglet was in danger, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was contacted to get permission to remove the eaglet from the nest for treatment.
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The eaglet was rescued by tree climbers and whisked away to West Virginia for medical treatment.
The eaglet at the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia on April 18.
(Dr. Jesse Fallon/Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia / FOX Weather)
Dr. Jesse Fallon, director of Veterinary Medicine at the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, was the veterinarian who treated the eaglet.
He said when the eagle was brought in, it was quiet, alert and responsive, which is typical behavior of an eaglet its age.
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Fallon said the eaglet was about two weeks old when it was brought in.
He said they did X-rays and an endoscopy, sticking a scope down into the eagle’s mouth, in hopes of retrieving the fish hook, but it was too far into the stomach.
The eaglet’s X-ray, showing the fishhook in its stomach.
(Dr. Jesse Fallon/Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia / FOX Weather)
So, they did the surgery, which was successful and had a routine closure, Fallon said.
They kept the eaglet for another 10 days, providing it with fluids, antibiotics, pain medicine and doing assisted feedings.
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He said eagles of that age are too young to eat independently, so they need some help.
The eaglet on a scale at intake at the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia.
(Dr. Jesse Fallon/Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia / FOX Weather)
In order to keep the eaglet from imprinting on the humans who were feeding it, the staff at the conservation center used an eagle puppet and kept the eaglet in contact with an adult eagle at all times.
“He got better and better, and stronger,” Fallon said.
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They kept the eagle in their care until Tuesday, when it was transported back to the nest successfully.
Carol Holmgren, director of the Tamarack Wildlife Center, opening the box to take the eaglet back to its nest.
(Andrew Fulton/U.S. Steel Irvin Plant / FOX Weather)
Fallon said the eagle doubled its weight in the 10 days it was at the conservation center.
Photos showed the eagle back in its nest with its siblings after a successful transfer.
The eaglet back in its nest following its surgery and recovery.
(Andrew Fulton/U.S. Steel Irvin Plant / FOX Weather)
While the road to recovery is not over, the eaglet seems to be doing well adjusting back to nest life.
