Concerns grow over status of third eaglet

The Brief

• Big Bear’s beloved Jackie and Shadow hatched three eggs this week.

• The third egg began hatching last week.

• Concerns grew after the third eaglet was no longer spotted.

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. – After Big Bear’s beloved bald eagles Jackie and Shadow hatched three eggs last week, concern grew after the third eaglet seemingly disappeared from view on Friday.

What we know

Many viewers across the globe were delighted after Jackie hatched three eggs this week.

On Friday, those who have been monitoring the situation became worried after one of three eagles wasn’t spotted.

“There’s a whole big part of the nest that’s outside of the camera view. It’s clear it’s not covered in snow, but the snow berm is blocking the camera from being able to see that part of the nest. So we don’t know what’s going on there. And that’s the place where the other two chicks have been mostly hanging out there. And so as we’re watching things, we just have to watch and we can’t really know exactly what’s happening other than what we see in front of us,” explained Sandy Streers, Executive Director of Friends of Big Bear Valley.

She’s held that position for over two decades.

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What we don’t know

While officials were unable to confirm the status of the third eaglet, Steers said they remain hopeful.

“We shall assume that we don’t know anything. All of the assumptions that people are making are not helping. All they’re doing is upsetting everybody,” she said. “Nature has its own way of doing things, and we just have to be patient and watch the same way Jackie and Shadow do.”

She continued to say, “We can’t know. And sometimes we have to be comfortable and patient with not knowing.”

She added there’s no timetable as to when there might be an update.

“We just have to let Jackie and Shadow take care of the chicks and do what they do, and we have to go with what portions we can see. And we all have to be patient with nature. It has its own way of doing things. We can’t command things, we can’t be in control of tit. And we have to let go of thinking that we have to control everything or it’s not okay or not safe,” Steers said.

Naming the chicks

What’s next

Sticking with tradition, a group of local students will soon get to name the chicks.

“The final names get selected by the local third-graders here because they get to study eagles in that year in school. And so that’s been our tradition in the past eight years,” Steers said.

The Source

Information provided from an interview with Sandy Streers on Friday, March 14 and previous FOX 11 reports.