Parenting is an awesome responsibility. When it occurs many feet from the ground on a narrow ledge in a mountainous area called Big Bear Valley, it requires very special skills that seem to come naturally to this wonderful pair of bald eagles.
I’d like to introduce you to Mom Jackie and Dad Shadow. They have been in this Big Bear Valley area for some time. Residents in the area have been watching them now for a few years, and they have installed cameras to watch and record the nest and the surrounding area. They have used this nest before, but I only became aware of it this spring when I heard there were eggs in the nest. We began watching for the eggs to hatch as Jackie and Shadow shared the task of keeping the eggs warm and safe.
On April 4, 2026, the first egg hatched, followed a day later by the second. The first one, a male, was named Luna. The second, a female, was named Sandy. The naming was by vote after a community-wide contest drew tens of thousands of submissions and votes from local students. Then parenting became more complex with the chore of feeding them as well as continuing to protect them.
We watched this family grow all spring and into the summer. We watched as the feathers grew and as the wings became stronger. We watched as Shadow and Jackie diligently brought fish to feed them until, one day, as the eaglets grew larger and the nest became smaller, Sandy slipped from the nest, flapping her wings. She fell a good distance, but the devastation of the fall was broken somewhat by her being able to clasp onto a branch or two on the way down.
Now, being on the ground was a problem. She seemed uninjured but was not quite ready to be able to fly back up to the nest. Her mom, Jackie, found her, protected her, and fed her until she was strong enough to finally get back up to the nest. The eaglets had been almost ready to take their first flight when Sandy fell. Luna was a bit larger and stronger and took his first flight the next day after Sandy fell.
The image on the left was taken after both eaglets were safely back in the nest. The flying lessons continued, with Shadow and Jackie continuing to bring fish to the nest to feed them.
I started to write this several weeks ago, when a disaster occurred on July 18th. I was so distraught it has taken me some time now to get back to it.
What happened that one day when Jackie was fishing, she was attacked by two subadult bald eagles. She was able to drive them off, but she ended up in the lake. She managed to get herself to the shore, but was unable to fly. The Wild Life people were able to capture her and take her to a Raptor Center where they found that she was extremely anemic and had kidney inflammation. She was given a blood transfusion and then treated 24/7 for almost three weeks. Regardless of the intense treatment, she died on August 10, 2026. They think she was 14 years old.
Shadow Continues Parenting
During this treatment period, Shadow was left to finish the parenting of the two eaglets. Their wings had to further strengthen and they had to be taught to do their own fishing. While all three continued to miss and look for Jackie, they completed this final stage of their upbringing, and Shadow watched them fly away.
With his parenting duties complete, Shadow has continued to stay mostly in the area. He is now being “shadowed” by another eagle that has been identified as KD-1. She was banded when she hatched about 100 miles away from the Big Bear location. At the time of the banding, they did not do a DNA test, so we are still not certain of her sex, although most are leaning toward female. She is about 4-1/2, and we won’t know for certain until mating season occurs later in the year. Then we will know if Shadow mates with her and they become parents of the next generation of eagles.