Historically, bald eagles only came to Big Bear in the winter, to find food when their home lakes further north were frozen over. More than 30 years ago, the Forest Service began conducting monthly Bald Eagle Counts during the winter months, December – March, to keep records on how many bald eagles wintered in our valley. When the counts started, the number of bald eagles wintering in Big Bear Valley averaged between 25 and 30. In recent years, before they stopped conducting the counts, it was averaging 6-8. Over the years, some of these eagles that returned each year had built ‘practice nests’ as part of their bonding process, but they always left in the winter, to nest elsewhere.
Around 2009 a tagged male juvenile from Catalina decided to spend the summer in Big Bear. We don’t know whether it was him (the tag was since gone), but a pair soon started staying year-round in Big Bear Valley and built a nest on the north side of the lake. This significantly changed Big Bear bald eagle history.
Note: The full bald eagle nesting season lasts over half a year, with the length depending on when fledged chicks leave the area. It begins in the fall of one year and can extend into the summer of the following year. FOBBV tracks the nesting season beginning from September 1 of each year.
Fall 2011-Summer 2012 Season. The first bald eagle chick ever hatched in Big Bear Valley was discovered. (Forest Service historical record searches confirmed that no active bald eagle nests had ever been recorded in Big Bear Valey.) The parents were called Ricky and Lucy by the Forest Service. Their chick was named Jack, after a long-time volunteer for the Forest Service bald eagle counts. Before it fledged, that chick grew to be bigger than both its parents. Since bald eagle females are larger than the males, this meant the chick had to be female. So, Jack’s name was changed to Jackie.
That original nest was in the top of a dead tree. With the assistance of Jackie’s flapping practice that had dislodged many sticks, the nest blew down in a big wind storm shortly after Jackie fledged. Ricky and Lucy had already been working on a second nest (as bald eagles very often do) in a strong, healthy tree about 50 feet from where Jackie was raised. They moved to that nest the following season and that is still the current nest.
Fall 2012-Summer 2013 Season. Lucy and Ricky were observed sitting on the new nest continuously, so it was believed there were eggs in the nest. They sat for a few weeks longer than it takes for eggs to hatch (which is about 35 to 42 days). Then ravens were seen swarming the nest. It is believed that the eagles had given up the sitting since there was no hatching. Without a view into the interior of the nest, no one could tell exactly what had happened. It was theorized by the Forest Service that those eggs may have frozen since the new nest was still fairly shallow and there was an extreme cold spell soon after the eagles began nest-sitting.
Fall 2013- Summer 2014 Season. Ricky and Lucy had two chicks, but, apparently, neither survived a major 4-day rain, wind and snow storm. Again, since there was no view into the nest bowl, more details about what happened could not be determined. There were 2 small chicks seen in the nest (with a scope from a distance) before the storm in February and there were no chicks seen after the storm and Ricky and Lucy stopped tending to the nest.
Fall 2014-Summer 2015 Season. Ricky and Lucy raised one chick in the nest that we believe successfully fledged. This chick was named Shadow by the Big Bear 3rd graders and the Forest Service (not to be confused with the current Shadow, Jackie’s mate. This chick is a year younger than the current Shadow.)
Fall 2015-Summer 2016 Season. In October 2015, after 2 years of planning and fundraising, Friends of Big Bear Valley obtained Forest Service permits and installed the eagle nest camera. Unknown to us or the Forest Service until a few months later, Ricky and Lucy had found a more sheltered tree and built a new nest about 1/4 mile from this one. They successfully raised 2 chicks–named Moonlight and Sky (by the 3rd graders and Forest Service) while the nest with the camera on it sat empty.
Note: Bald eagles are known as “compulsive nest builders.” Bringing and arranging sticks is part of their bonding process. Over half of the known pairs have more than one nest in their territories. Apparently, Lucy and Ricky decided to try a different nesting site.
Before the next nesting season began in the fall of 2016, Ricky and Lucy apparently left the area. They were no longer being spotted around the valley and their new nest was falling into disrepair and not used by anyone. Since neither of them is tagged, we do not know where they went or what might have happened to them. Also, none of Ricky and Lucy’s four known chicks were tagged or banded, so we have no way to know where any of them might be.
Fall 2016-Summer 2017 Season. A sub-adult female started hanging out at the old nest deserted by Ricky and Lucy. She was the right age to be Jackie (determined by her feather coloration patterns). Since Jackie was not tagged, we cannot know for certain, but for each of the years since Jackie fledged, there were only 3 bald eagles who were year-round in Big Bear—the nesting pair (Ricky and Lucy) and 1 sub-adult that each year was the right age to be Jackie. We believe she stayed in Big Bear. (Tracked chicks have usually left the area of their hatching to venture for a few years before maturing around 5 years old and selecting a territory—but Jackie has been known to break other rules that bald eagles in general seem to follow.) Jackie eventually took over the old nest with the cam on it, along with a mate, that the Forest Service named Mr. B. We have no idea where Mr. B might have come from since he also was not tagged.
Jackie and Mr. B mated (on camera!), but Jackie did not lay eggs. Since she was only just five years old it is possible she was still too young to be sexually mature.
Fall 2017-Summer 2018 Season. Jackie laid eggs, which hatched and were named (again by the Big Bear 3rd graders), Stormy and BBB (for Big Bear Baby). BBB did not survive a severe 24-hour rain storm and the following freezing temperatures. The chicks at that point were 6 and 1/2 weeks old. They were too big to fit completely under their parents to stay dry, but did not yet have all of their waterproof plumage, so we believe BBB’s death was from exposure.
Stormy survived. And went on to worldwide fame thanks to U.S. Forest Service press releases that were picked up by the media. When Stormy was almost eight weeks old, he was banded, with a band on each ankle. To do the banding, the Forest Service hired a specialist, tree-climbing raptor biologist with the proper federal and state permits. Stormy’s identifying band–purple with the number JR1 on it. Stormy fledged successfully on April 26th and left the Big Bear Valley a couple of months later.
During the summer when the eagle family was still using the nest with Stormy, an adult male intruder showed up to the nest and with great tenacity, refused to leave no matter how much Jackie, Mr. B and Stormy tried to chase him away. The new male was called Shadow because he seemed so determined to stay in the nest we initially believed him to be Ricky and Lucy’s fledgling named Shadow. It was later determined that this intruder eagle’s plumage showed it to be a year older than the Shadow who was hatched in Big Bear. But by then the name stuck. Shadow is the resident male eagle and Jackie’s current mate (and not her sibling).
Mr. B eventually left the area. He was last seen on the nest camera in a nonviolent showdown with Shadow. When Shadow continued holding his ground no matter how much Mr. B tried to chase him away, Mr. B gave up and left. After that, Jackie accepted Shadow as her new mate.
Fall 2018-Summer 2019 Season. Jackie laid eggs on March 6th and 9th, and the eggs hatched on April 14th and 15th. The chicks were named Simba and Cookie. This time FOBBV opened a “name the chicks” fundraiser contest to the public. Twenty-five names were drawn from the submissions, and again, the local 3rd graders voted to select the two finalists.
At six weeks old, Cookie did not survive a rain and snowstorm followed by freezing temperatures. Both Cookie and Simba were banded, Simba with ID # ZR1, Cookie #ZJ1. Both eaglets were determined to be males during the banding process. Simba fledged successfully on July 23rd and eventually left the Big Bear Valley. He was last seen at the nest on August 18th.
Fall 2019-Summer 2020 Season. Jackie laid eggs on January 8th and 11th. The eggs failed to hatch and were determined non-viable. After incubating the eggs for more than 60 days, in mid-March Jackie and Shadow started leaving the eggs unattended for periods of time. This was normal behavior given the situation. A raven came to the nest, cracked the eggs and ate some of the contents. The eggs did not have any noticeable development; they were either not fertilized or development was stopped early on. After a period of obvious upset (based on different behavior), Jackie and Shadow then went back to work on the nest and visited often.
Fall 2020-Summer 2021. Jackie laid the first egg of the 2021 season on January 6th, but for unknown reasons Jackie & Shadow were not fully incubating or protecting the nest after this egg was laid. The next morning a raven destroyed that first egg. Jackie laid a second egg on January 9th. She and Shadow incubated it a bit more than the first, but it was still often left unattended. On January 13th Jackie laid a 3rd egg that seemed to have been broken before the laying process was complete. After that unusual circumstance, Jackie did not seem focused on incubating the egg #2 and it was eaten by a raven the next day. (Jackie could have been healing internally from whatever situation was created by or produced the broken egg.)
In February, Jackie laid a 2nd clutch of eggs, the first one on the 8th and second one on the 11th. The eagles diligently incubated and protected this clutch.
On March 18th the first egg started the hatching process, but by the next morning there were no progress in the hatching nor any signs of life. The eaglet did not survive the hatching process which can sometimes happen. Jackie and Shadow continued to incubate the second egg. After 51 days of incubating, Jackie and Shadow started leaving this egg unattended for short periods of time. On April 17th a raven cracked that now-unviable egg open. It appeared that the chick had never fully developed.
The loss of the eggs seemed to impact Jackie and Shadow’s behavior greatly. They recovered over the next few days and continued to visit the nest.
Fall 2021-Summer 2022 Season. Jackie laid eggs on January 22nd and 25th. One egg hatched on March 3rd! The remaining egg failed to hatch for unknown reasons. The hatched chick seemed to adopt the unhatched egg as a security blanket, often snuggled up to it and sometimes even protected it from Jackie and Shadow getting too close to it. After the chick fledged, the unhatched egg eventually become part of the nest,
A fundraiser to name the chick was opened to the public, 35 names were randomly drawn, and the local 3rd grade classrooms voted on their favorite name.
Our 2022 chick was named Spirit! Over time and with a few indicators, such as ankle thickness, overall size, and vocal pitch, FOBBV determined Spirit to be a female. Spirit stole the hearts of viewers around the world, and she fledged successfully on 5/31.
Fall 2022-Summer 2023 Season. Many watched as Jackie laid the first egg of the season on January 11th. She laid the 2nd egg on the14th while the nest camera was down due to a moderate snow and wind event. Jackie and Shadow diligently incubated the eggs with frequent discussions/disagreements about who should get more time on the eggs! We had significant snow and rainfall this season which didn’t deter the eagles from their dedication to the eggs.
After 47 days of incubating, Jackie spent her first night off the nest and Shadow filled in with overnight incubation duties. This started the process of slowly leaving the eggs unattended more and more. On March 7th, while the eggs were unattended, ravens came to the nest and breached both eggs. There was no obvious development seen, which indicates the eggs were either not fertilized or something stopped the development early on. We have no way of knowing either way.
Again, after time for them to process the loss of the eggs, Jackie and Shadow continued to visit the nest, adding sticks and tidying up, and were also often seen and heard mating. Eventually, with the valley warming up, the eagles moved into their summer vacation activities of spending most of their time away from the nest.
That summer, it was reported to us by the bander that that both Stormy and Simba had (at different times) been found deceased and identified based on their band numbers. It is unknown what happened to them. They were each found in separate locations elsewhere in California about a year after fledging.
Note: According to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, on average, only about 70% of the bald eagles that fledge make it through their first year.
Fall 2023-Summer 2024 Season Jackie laid eggs on January 25th and January 28th, and then surprisingly laid a third egg on January 31st. (The average for bald eagles is 2 eggs, though there have been a few instances recorded of 3 or even 4 eggs being laid in other nests.)
Showing amazing fortitude during severe El Niño winter storms, Jackie stayed the course for almost 62 hours of uninterrupted nest duty. As the weeks-long storms passed, Jackie and Shadow continued to diligently incubate their eggsfor almost 80 days, well past the normal hatching window, but for unknown reasons, none of the eggs hatched. Two of the eggs got accidentally broken (after such a long time in Big Bear’s dry climate, the eggs become dry and fragile) and neither showed any sign of development. Both Jackie and especially Shadow reacted with different behavior as they dealt with losing the eggs. After a few days, they both returned to their normal behavior of visiting the nest and bringing sticks.
Though we have no way of knowing why the eggs did not hatch, one possibility is that a low level of oxygen did not provide sufficient circulation through the egg’s pores. Big Bear already has lower oxygen levels than most nests due to the high altitude (about 7,000 feet). In addition, the intense storms kept snow piled high on the nest surrounding the eggs and may have blocked some of the needed air circulation.
As we head into the next chapter, we look forward to seeing Jackie and Shadow’s adventures in the habitat, including nest building activities at the Stick Depot Snag (an alternative nesting site location they have been working on since at least 2022) and surprise cameo appearances at our annual Outdoor Adventure Days event!