The Brief

Now that celebrity bald eagles Jackie and Shadow have welcomed two new chicks, tens of thousands of fans are regularly tuning into the livestream of the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake for a peak at the fuzzy eaglets.

The chicks, which hatched Saturday night and Easter Sunday morning, will be referred to as Chick 1 and Chick 2 for now, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the popular YouTube livestream.

The eaglets are still gaining strength in their first few days of life — learning to move neck muscles and pick up pieces of meat from mama Jackie and papa Shadow’s beaks. Those early feedings can be challenging or awkward, and the organization often refers to the chicks as “bobbleheads” at this stage.

Some fans worried about the second chick struggling to hold its head and getting enough food, but both eaglets are doing “great,” according to Jenny Voisard, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s media manager.

“Trust the process, trust the eagles, and settle in and enjoy these cute little fur balls because they change every day,” Voisard said. “And you don't want to miss this time, because they're just so precious.”

Sibling 'bonking'

The eaglets are tiny — each weighs about a few ounces — in a nest that’s estimated to be 6-feet deep. The nest sits near the top of a Jeffrey pine tree on the north side of Big Bear Lake.

Chicks multiply in size over the first weeks and months of life, establishing a pecking order along the way, according to the nonprofit.

Viewers may notice Chick 1 and Chick 2 headbutting each other, a sibling rivalry behavior that the organization calls “bonking.” Voisard said it’s “totally normal” in the nest, especially since the chicks can’t see very well at this stage.

“It won't last too long,” she said. “There is plenty of food for them to eat, and so they shouldn't be in competition with each other.”

Last season’s trio of chicks participated in bonking for a while.

Voisard said Sunny and Gizmo went on to be “best friends” before they flew away from the nest last June. One of last season’s chicks, which the nonprofit named “Misty,” didn’t survive a winter storm within weeks of hatching.

For Jackie and Shadow, everything now revolves around stocking up food and making sure the chicks are safe, warm and dry in the nest, Voisard said.

“They do a very good job, and we've been seeing fish deliveries and other prey the last couple of days and the chicks are hungrily gobbling it up,” she said.

Upcoming naming contest

Now that the chicks have hatched, many people are wondering what their names will be — and offering suggestions. The nonprofit said it’s seen hundreds of requests to name one of the chicks “Sandy” in honor of Sandy Steers.

Steers was an environmental advocate who helped launch the eagle livestream and the late executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley. She died in February, a few weeks before the pair of eggs were laid.

But the organization said that’s not what Steers would have wanted. Voisard said Steers loved having Big Bear third-grade students select the eaglets’ names, and Friends of Big Bear Valley plans to keep the tradition going.

“We are working on a way to honor, memorialize Sandy in something that’s more permanent,” Voisard said.

The naming privileges are usually given to the third-graders because they study bald eagles in school, but last year was a bit of an exception. The fourth- and fifth -grade classes were invited to help select names because Jackie and Shadow didn’t have chicks in 2023 and 2024, when the students would've been in third-grade.

"We want to make sure we're doing it the way that [Steers] wanted to do it, and those kids live for being able to do this,” Voisard said. “It's a right of passage.”

Friends of Big Bear Valley is expected to launch a naming contest where the public can submit ideas for this season’s eaglets, and the details will be announced online. A random list of names will be pulled from the submissions and shared with Big Bear third-grade students for the final vote.

Chick 1 and Chick 2 will then be officially named based on the results of the students’ ballots.

Every state in the West is expected to face an above-normal threat of wildfire this summer, according to the latest projections, released Wednesday by the National Interagency Coordination Center.

The government-run center publishes monthly reports predicting fire risk for the four months ahead, and the change since the March outlook is staggering. The agency denotes elevated risk in red on its maps, and the June forecast from March 2 showed a small swath of rouge in the Southwest. But, citing an ongoing snow drought, rapid snowmelt, and a recent unprecedented heat wave, the latest maps feature red spilling across the Southwest and into the Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and northern California.

“We’re probably not going to be in great shape this year,” said Matthew Hurteau, director of the Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society at the University of New Mexico. While it’s normal for the Southwest to experience a relatively early fire season, before the summer monsoons hit, what really stood out to him was how quickly the red moved north. “It’s really early for that.”

Projections for June wildland fire risk from the National Interagency Coordination Center released on March 2, 2026 (left) and updated on April 1, 2026 (right).

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Courtesy of National Interagency Coordination Center

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June typically sees snow lingering in many mountain ranges and snowmelt wetting the landscape, he said. Not this year.

The latest outlook reports that the snow melt-off in the Four Corners region came “not just several weeks or months earlier than normal, but also four to six weeks earlier than the previously recorded earliest melt-off dates.” The recent heat wave also desiccated the West. Albuquerque, for example, recorded its earliest ever 90-degree reading on March 21, more than six weeks sooner than its previous earliest date, in 1947. The daily average of 73.1 degrees Las Vegas recorded in March would have broken the city’s April record.

Overall, there’s been less snowpack and higher temperatures than pretty much any winter on record. It’s a situation that climatologists have said would be virtually impossible without climate change, and the maps reflect that reality.

“It doesn’t mean that all of these areas are going to burn,” said Alastair Hayden, professor at Cornell University and a former division chief in the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Last year, for example, the Pacific Northwest saw an above-normal risk but was largely spared. Local patterns, such as wind and precipitation, play a major role, too. “But, when I look back at the forecast, fires usually tend to be in one of these locations.”

The one notable spot on the latest maps that seems safe for now is Southern California, though that’s because the fire season there doesn’t usually start until later in the summer, or even into fall. There are also surprising splotches of red, like in Florida, which is experiencing a drought. But the West is by far the largest area of concern. “Keep an eye on July,” said Hurteau. “The Fourth of July is the single highest ignition day of the year.”

The sheer expanse of land that could be at risk simultaneously worries Hurteau. “Our fire suppression apparatus is in part dependent on the whole region not being on fire at the same time,” he said. Fire crews count on being able to hop from hot spot to hot spot. If there are too many at once, resources could run thin.

The number of acres across the country that have burned through March is already 231 percent of the 10-year average. A wet spring, however, could change everything. It recently rained in Albuquerque where Hurteau is based, and, if it continues, the fire risk could go down dramatically. That’s what happened last year.

“I’m sure that’s what all the fire people are hoping for too, because that would be nice,” said Hurteau. “But hope is not a great strategy.”

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/extreme-weather/these-maps-show-exactly-where-the-west-might-burn-this-summer/.

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

The U.S. Department of State does not know how visa bands and entry bonds could impact turnout for the World Cup, a spokesperson told KERA News.

The largest sports tournament in the world is expected to bring in around 6 million visitors and $2 billion of economic impact to North Texas, according to local World Cup organizers.

Arlington, especially, hopes to cash in on that economic impact. Dallas Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys home rebranded as such for the World Cup despite its location in Arlington, will host the most games at nine.

While exceptions are being made for players, coaches, support staff and immediate family members of players for countries affected by bans on travel to the U.S., no such exception has been officially put in place for players from countries that require bonds.

Mignon Houston, a deputy spokesperson for the State Department, said the bonds are in place for countries whose citizens have a reputation for overstaying their visas.

“Our commitment to these players will remain, and so I would absolutely expect there would be exceptions, just like there are for the visa ban,” Houston told KERA.

Houston said that’s in part because the list of countries whose nationals will have to pay the bond is recent.

But it’s unclear how certain federal policies could impact those figures.

The U.S. has instituted bonds that foreign visitors from 50 countries must pay before they are allowed to enter the country, up to $15,000 per person.

Another 19 countries have a complete ban on travel to the U.S. while another 20 have partial suspensions.

The countries from which visitors are required to pay the bonds include World Cup competitors like Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Algeria, Cape Verde and Senegal.

Cape Verde is the only of those countries with a match scheduled in Texas, with a June 26 match against Saudi Arabia in Houston. None are scheduled for games in Arlington during the group stage.

A spokesperson for the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee directed a KERA interview request to FIFA, which did not respond to the request.

Despite requiring visitors from 50 countries to pay a bond for entry to the US, federal officials expect huge fan numbers at World Cup matches across the country, Houston said.

The FIFA PASS, an option for expedited visa application processes for World Cup ticket holders, is expected to help make that easier.

Mignon said people who already have tickets to World Cup match in the U.S. can apply for an expedited visa process.

Potential visitors are required to buy a World Cup ticket before applying with FIFA PASS, spending potentially thousands of dollars on a single ticket.

While there are no guarantees that applicants will have a visa approved, either at all or before the World Cup match for which they've bought tickets, Houston said it is the best shot to ensure visitors have permission to enter the country before the tournament.

Visitors who are applying through FIFA PASS and are from a country with bond requirements will still have to pay those bonds.