One of Southern California’s beloved bald eagles’ eggs has stopped moving, group says
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (NewsNation Now) — One of the two eggs of Southern California’s most famous pair of nesting bald eagles has stopped moving, according to a nonprofit monitoring the nest camera.
“Sometimes nature is hard to watch, especially when there is an unexpected turn of events that we do not understand. The chick in the first egg that was working on hatching last night, appears to have stopped moving this afternoon,” Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam posted on Facebook.
Mother eagle Jackie and father Shadow have been incubating their eggs near the mountain community of Big Bear east of Los Angeles for the past few weeks. High up in the mountains above Big Bear Lake, the Friends of Big Bear Valley, set up a live camera to watch the hatching live.
The first egg hatched Thursday evening. Videos show Jackie waking up throughout the night to tend to her baby eaglet and check on her egg.
The group said it was not sure why the other egg stopped moving, but added Jackie and Shadow are continuing to care for the second egg.
“Jackie and Shadow are continuing to diligently take care of the second egg…we will watch and see what happens next. Thank you all for your great interest in and love of watching Jackie and Shadow in their daily lives,” the group said.
The first egg of the year was destroyed by ravens in January. Two raves flew into the nest when Jackie and Shadow were away and cracked the egg, according to nest footage. Two other eggs this season have also been destroyed.
In 2020, Jackie laid two eggs but neither ended up hatching. In 2019, she hatched two chicklets, Simba and Cookie. But Cookie died of apparent hypothermia after a late-season snowstorm in May. Simba fledged successfully in July and left the nest in August.
Big Bear bald eagles were first tracked back in 2012 but the nest egg camera wasn’t installed until fall 2015.
Bald eagles are the only eagles that don’t migrate elsewhere and lay their eggs in Southern California.