LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – Fans of a bald eagle couple in California’s Big Bear Valley are hoping this year’s eggs will produce a better result than 2024.
Jackie the Big Bear Bald Eagle was confirmed to have laid her third egg on Tuesday evening, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, which operates the live feed of Jackie and her partner Shadow’s nest.
The egg came “right on Jackie’s schedule,” Friends of Big Bear Valley said, three days after her second egg.
A blog post published Tuesday night by FOBBV states that this egg-laying process was nearly identical to the previous two, and that it took less than four minutes to “get to that final push.”
“Jackie looked down and the third egg had been softly laid down beside the other two,” the blog post read. “Her calmness continued as she gently, talons tucked, stepped back to check on her eggs. She almost immediately settled down on top of them, fully ready to keep them warm and protected.”
About 15 minutes after laying the egg, Jackie “stood up and rapidly shook all the trauma out of herself” before promptly settling back down on her eggs and falling asleep.
During this entire process, Shadow gave Jackie some much-needed space after supplying her with two fish and mating on a nearby perch tree on Tuesday.
He had also shared nest-watching duties earlier on Tuesday – discovering the second egg – while Jackie stretched her wings and presumably replenished herself. The winter storm that rolled through the area dropped some snow on the nest, but with both birds taking turns keeping the eggs warm, it was only a matter of time before the first pip.
Hopefully, this year’s offspring hatch successfully. Last year, Jackie also laid three eggs, but none hatched. Most eagle eggs typically take around 35 days to incubate and then another one to three days to hatch.
The Friends of Big Bear Valley livestream of Jackie and Shadow’s nest, which is 145 feet up a Jeffrey Pine tree in the San Bernardino Mountains, can be found below. More information on Jackie and Shadow can be found here.
More than 14,000 people were watching the livestream as of 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Trying to figure out which eagle is which? Jackie is bigger than Shadow and has a larger beak, according to eagle-eyed eagle watchers.
