Featured image credit: Friends of Big Bear Valley
It’s estimated that around 100,000 people flock to the mountainous resort town of Big Bear every year. Yet, your best chance of seeing the most illustrious seasonal residents is by staying glued to your computer. That’s because no one in Big Bear is as popular as the renowned bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow. Since 2017, the power couple have been the stars of a live camera situated at their nest allowing the world to watch each season as they struggle to bring new eagle fledglings into the world. It can be an emotional watch. Yet, each autumn, as Jackie and Shadow return to their stomping grounds, thousands upon thousands tune in to witness their latest 8-month chapter unfold.
An Eaglet Named Jack
There’s nothing new about eagles visiting Big Bear during the winter months. As the northern climes grow frozen and inhospitable, bald eagles migrate to the unfrozen waters of Big Bear Lake in search of food. But they’ve never been known stuck around. Rather Big Bear Lake simply serves as a footnote in their further adventures. That changed with the arrival of a wild eagle couple who went on to be known as Lucy and Ricky.
Lucy and Ricky defied convention, opting to remain near the fish-flushed waters of Big Bear Lake all year round. While several bonded eagle pairs had made practice nests in the area, Lucy and Ricky were the first known couple to build a nest in earnest. In the natural nesting season spanning from fall 2011 through summer 2012, the eagles became the parents of what is believed to be the first eaglet ever hatched in the Big Bear Valley. Researchers called the fledgling eagle Jack.
But before Jack had fledged, meaning taken his first flight away from the nest, the eaglet had already surpassed both parents in size. This strongly indicated that the eaglet was actually female. Therefore, Jack was renamed Jackie. After her fledging, Jackie left the Big Bear Lake area. Shortly afterward, the nest where she was born collapsed, owing to a combination of a decaying support tree, Jackie’s disruptive beating of her wings while learning to fly, and a dramatic wind storm that finished it off.
A Shadow Over Big Bear Lake
Yet, Lucy and Ricky had already been hard at work constructing a new nest just 50 feet from the original. Bald eagle couples frequently bond through building nests together, so can often be found compulsively building, whether or not necessary. By the next nesting season, the pair of eagles had made this nest their new official home.
The conditions that allowed Jackie to flourish were sadly not repeated in subsequent years. Sometimes, chicks would hatch only to be quickly claimed by the elements. More often, the eggs simply didn’t hatch. It wasn’t until the nesting season spanning autumn 2014 through summer 2015 that Lucy and Ricky hatched a fledgling that successfully left the nest. The eaglet was named Shadow. However, the Shadow we know today is not this Shadow. Rather, this Shadow is Jackie’s brother. Just consider “Shadow” the “John” of the eagle world.
Jackie’s (Assumed) Return
Later that year, the Friends of Big Bear Valley non-profit finally received the proper permits to install an observation camera at the site of Lucy and Ricky’s nest. However, it wasn’t until the camera was installed atop the tree at nest level that the organization discovered that Lucy and Ricky had already moved on to a new nest about a quarter of a mile away. In that new nest, the eagle couple raised two eaglets named Moonlight and Sky. For unknown reasons, Lucy and Ricky didn’t return to Big Bear Lake for the nesting season beginning in October 2016. As far as researchers and observers know, the pioneering eagle partners haven’t been back since.
But that same season, a large female eagle took up residence at Lucy and Ricky’s abandoned nest where the observation camera was still coincidentally stationed. Researchers suspected that the eagle was Jackie, returning home. Sure, Jackie had never been tagged, so it was impossible to say for certain. And eagles typically sought new territories after their fifth year. But Jackie had often behaved unconventionally. And only three bald eagles had displayed this level of familiarity with the Big Bear Lake territory: Lucy, Ricky, and Jackie. Coupled with a feather pattern that suggested this eagle was the same age that Jackie would be, it was enough to convince most observers that Jackie was back.
And she hadn’t arrived alone. Jackie had brought along a mate that researchers quickly dubbed Mr. B. The eagle pairing began to make themselves comfortable in the nest once shared between Lucy and Ricky, undisturbed by the camera’s observing eye. The new pair successfully fledged an eaglet named Stormy who promptly left the Big Bear Lake region. Sadly, Stormy’s slightly younger sibling, BBB (an acronym for Big Bear Baby), hatched but a severe storm followed by a freeze claimed the eaglet’s brief life.
The Era of Jackie and Shadow
Prior to Stormy fledging, a new mysterious male eagle appeared at the nest shared by the parents and their chick. The insistence of this eagle left researchers speculating that this was Shadow, Jackie’s younger sibling, returning to the nest. Mr. B, Jackie, and even young Stormy attempted to intimidate the intruding eagle, but he remained undeterred. On closer examination of the eagle’s plumage, researchers determined he was too old to be Shadow. However, the Shadow name had already caught on with the public. Therefore, this eagle was also called Shadow, though he was not Jackie’s brother but rather a new eagle challenging Mr. B.
Finally, after numerous failed attempts to intimidate Shadow, Mr. B accepted his loss and fled Big Bear Lake, never to return. From that point onward, Jackie and Shadow have been loyal mates to one another, establishing themselves as Big Bear Lake’s resident power couple. But despite Shadow’s admirable confidence, the pair haven’t had an easy time trying to bring eaglets into the world.
The Hard Lives of Bald Eagles
Observers estimate that Jackie and Shadow have worked together to produce at least 14 eggs between their first union and February 2024. However, only five of those eggs hatched. And only two (maybe three) of those eaglets survived into adulthood. One includes Simba, an eaglet that fledged on July 23, 2019, before leaving Big Bear Lake. His sibling Cookie was not so fortunate, likely freezing to death during a winter snowstorm earlier that year.
The bodies of Simba and Stormy (Jackie’s previous eaglet with Mr. B) were later discovered deceased on separate occasions, identified by their tags. Their cause of death remains unknown. Both survived just about a year beyond their fledging. According to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, about 30% of eagles that fledge don’t survive their first year.
While Jackie and Shadow likely aren’t aware of their offspring that die post-fledging, both have acute responses to the loss of their nest-bound eaglets when such tragedy strikes. Humanizing animals can be a dangerous practice, so we can’t say for certain that eagles mourn the loss of their chicks the way a human would grieve a loved one. But Jackie and Shadow tend to return to the nest where they’ve lost a chick in the weeks following the death as if they’re expecting the eaglet to possibly return. Perhaps it’s simply reflexive. But it could also indicate an emotional attachment of sorts. Regardless, the loss of an eaglet tends to disrupt the couple’s patterns, leaving them in some semblance of disarray.
Recent Adventures in Babysitting for Jackie and Shadow
Jackie and Shadow had another successful fledging in the season transcending fall 2021 through summer 2022 when they brought a chick named Spirit into the world. While Jackie laid two eggs that year, the other didn’t hatch. Curiously, Spirit took to using the dormant egg as a security blanket of sorts, showing a territorial possessiveness of it even in the face of her parents. When Spirit fledged at the end of May 2022, Jackie and Shadow permanently incorporated the unhatched egg into their nest.
The eagles’ fame surged in early 2023 when an uncommonly heavy rainy and snowy season pummeled California. People from around the world stayed glued to the live nest cam to watch Jackie and Shadow stoically battle the elements. But with approximately 45 inches of snow falling over Big Bear Lake that season, their attempts at parenthood were as unsuccessful as they were valiant.
This year, Jackie and Shadow have more to celebrate than usual. They’re currently nesting three fully hatched eagle chicks (their first in three years). But as their past experiences have taught them, there’s still plenty of dangerous road ahead. And with days of rain and that dreaded “atmospheric river” term popping up again, it could be a hard week for Big Bear’s resident eagle family. Concerned fans of Jackie and Shadow can check in virtually anytime by visiting the eagles’ live nest cam.
The Enduring Lesson of Big Bear Lake’s Resident Eagles
While Jackie and Shadow may look similar, “eagle-eyed” observers can differentiate the two based on size. Jackie is noticeably larger than Shadow with a longer and thicker beak. Jackie is also frequently the dominant of the pair, though the two have been seen “arguing” about nesting duties. Both Jackie and Shadow seem to enjoy the act of incubating their eggs, taking turns leaving the nest to hunt.
Their remarkable gift for collaboration is a big reason why so many people tune in to watch the lives of Jackie and Shadow every year. It’s hard not to feel inspired. And, of course, we root for them. But nature will be nature, so we’re left to watch from the edge of our seats with our hearts in our throats.
