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Climate & Environment

Want to help name a Big Bear eaglet? We have the details

An Eagle parent bites at a fish while the two eaglets snuggle up together in the center of their nest.
A view of the nest this Sunday.
(
Courtesy Friends of Big Bear Lake
/
YouTube
)

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The internet’s favorite bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow have been hard at work caring for their eaglets.

The nonprofit that runs the nest livestream, Friends of the Big Bear Valley, has now asked the public to do the hard work of coming up with names for the two living chicks.

The couple laid a clutch of three eggs in February, all of which hatched this month. One chick, the eldest, did not survive. Known initially as Chick 1, the chick has now been named Misty, in honor of a late FOBBV volunteer.

The names of the two remaining chicks will be selected by elementary school students at Big Bear Valley elementary schools. Traditionally that honor has gone to 3rd graders, but that's changing this time. Since Jackie and Shadow did not have chicks the last two seasons, volunteers decided to include 4th and 5th graders in the name selection too.

Since there's no official eaglet naming book, they're taking suggestions. And that's where you come in:

Contest details

How: The public can summit names at the FOBBV website. Since the gender of the two chicks are still unknown, the nonprofit is asking for “neutral name” suggestions only.

  • A donation of $5 is required for one entry
  • $10 for three name entries
  • $25 for 10 name entries

When: Submissions end Friday, March 28 at midnight. Then a shortlist of nominations will be drawn at random by a computer.

The process: On April 1, FOBBV will deliver final ballots to Big Bear Valley elementary schools for the deciding vote.

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The big reveal: The new names will be announced on the nonprofit’s social media accounts the evening of April 1st.

The last fledgling

The last time FOBBV ran the naming contest was in 2022 when one of the bald eagle couple’s two eggs hatched in late January. From 35 nominations, Big Bear third graders chose the name Spirit, who successfully left the nest in May.

Watch the livestream

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