(Fingers crossed) Famed Big Bear bald eagle couple prepare nest for the egg-laying season

Big Bear’s internet famous bald eagle couple, Jackie and Shadow, have been hard at work preparing their nest for the first egg of the season.

Jackie typically starts moving into motherhood in January. That said, producing an egg could come as early as the week of New Year’s, or as late as April.

Debbie Shores, an admin and expert in the Friends of Big Bear Valley official Facebook group, wrote that despite all the humans hoping for a clutch (the laying of eggs) sooner than later, nature has no set timeline.

“For now, only Jackie knows the answers and we can only follow along as she reveals her closely guarded secrets to us,” Shores wrote this week.

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What to watch for

Jackie has been seen in the first “pancake” position of the season, a term coined by fans when an eagle is lying flat in the nest bowl.

This is kind of like the eagles trying the nest on for size.

“This also gives them ideas on what work still needs to be done before they get into some serious nesting,” Shores wrote. “The hope is that, in time, the pancaking will be for the purpose of covering the oh so anticipated eggies.”

Jackie has also started showing signs of curled talons, which is when eagles ball up their feet and tuck the talons in. When there are eggs or eaglets in the nest, this will protect them from accidentally being pierced by mom.

Of course, the couple has been busy rearranging and adding new furniture (aka sticks) in advance of the potential new arrivals.

Fans hopeful for a better outcome

Mama Jackie and Papa Shadow laid three eggs last time around in late January. The third egg was a bit of a surprise for fans, as the average for bald eagles is two.

But the season ended up being filled with hope — and then heartbreak — when no new bald eagle babies emerged after weeks of waiting.

The couple had incubated their eggs for almost 80 days, which is well beyond the normal hatching window. Jackie even sat on the nest for nearly 62 hours straight during wet winter storms.

And this was the second year in a row that ended in an empty nest.

Jackie and Shadow laid two eggs in January 2023, but they didn’t hatch either. They were eventually broken by ravens, and the nonprofit could see that they were either not fertilized to begin with, or something stopped the development early on.