'We were all crying': Fans of Jackie and Shadow met IRL to celebrate Big Bear's famous bald eagle couple

Hundreds of thousands of people have tuned in to follow the parenting saga of Jackie and Shadow via the popular nest livestream. On Saturday, a group of diehards from this online community met in real life in Big Bear Lake, many for the very first time, in honor of the bald eagle pair.

They traveled from near and far — some across California, while others from across the country, to connect with others over their shared experience.

Robyn Rosenberg, who lives in Los Angeles and has been watching Jackie and Shadow every single day for the past several months, said she and a few other eagle-eyed fans even spotted the duo flying around Big Bear Lake during their visit.

“We were all crying, it was beautiful,” she said. “It was great. It was so worth it.”

The fan party

Welcome to The Jackie and Shadow Bald Eagle Party, an event at Big Bear Lake yesterday especially dedicated to the feathered couple that have spurred hope and heartbreak in their followers. The get-together is part of the 10th annual “Outdoor Adventure Days,” which featured free kayaking, birding, and other activities in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The Jackie and Shadow celebration was held in the heart of Big Bear Village with a variety of vendors, including the Sierra Club, the San Bernardino National Forest, and Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that manages the cameras.

The fans

Nancy Kiarniski, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, told LAist she’s been watching the couple daily, on multiple devices, since early March.

“I just love to watch them,” Kiarniski said. “They're just two lovebirds, right? When I have a down day, they just make me so happy.”

Robin Rosenberg, left, and Nancy Kiarniski, right, spotted Jackie and Shadow flying around Big Bear Lake during their visit. (Makenna Sievertson / LAist)

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Kiarniski and Rosenberg excitedly compared notes about the web stream, laughing about a “wonky stick” Jackie brought in as if they’ve known each other for years. But Kiarniski said they actually just met at the event, and “it was friends at first sight.”

Many fans took advantage of the gathering to bring their relationships into the real world and finally put faces to screen names.

Paul Amirault, who’s been watching the livestream for about five years — since July 4, 2019, to be exact — started a Facebook fan group called “We Love Jackie and Shadow” that’s grown from 18 people to more than 21,000.

“The great thing about these fan pages are, you know, you can't be watching necessarily every second, but someone is, and they're going to let you know that something's happening,” he said.

Amirault met up with one of his Facebook page’s volunteer moderators, Andrea Burns, for the first time ever on Saturday.

Burns, who lives in La Verne and has been tuning into the livestream since 2018, told LAist she is “so dedicated” to the couple that she has two TVs at home that are specifically for the separate camera angles.

The "Outdoor Adventure Days" event included a booth where children could color bald eagles with crayons and put together foam masks.

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Jackie and Shadow jigsaw puzzles.

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“Jackie and Shadow, they're characters,” she said, her voice choking up with emotion. “There's just so many cute moments, and you just cry and laugh, and I'll be devastated if anything ever happens to them.”

The merch

Burns also made sure to take advantage of the Friends of Big Bear Valley merchandise, buying about $100 worth of souvenirs from their booth, she said.

The Jackie and Shadow t-shirts were particularly popular, especially in the orchid color, as were the tote bags, plushies, and sweatshirts.

Shelley Egan, who sits on the Friends of Big Bear Valley board and helps manage their merchandise, said all of the photos on their products came from camera operators who monitor the livestream around the clock.

“Someone has to be watching it, we even have someone in Greece who takes the early shift,” she said.

Sandy Steers addressed the fan party in Big Bear Village while Eric Runningpath and his son Braden prepared for their next Native American dance performance.

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Sandy Steers, the executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, poses with a bald eagle wingspan display in her official merchandise shirt ahead of the Jackie and Shadow fan party.

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The host

The fan party was hosted by Sandy Steers, executive director of the organization, who led an "eagle talk” and answered questions from some of the roughly 100 people in attendance. She also formally introduced at least five moderators for their Facebook page, who were each met with roaring applause and shouts of “celebrity sighting” from the crowd.

But Steers was almost as much of an attraction as Jackie and Shadow, with many people making sure to snap a photo with her, the woman behind the fan phenomenon, before heading home.

“I can't even start to discuss how much I love how involved everybody is, and the moderators are amazing, and Sandy's amazing,” Rosenberg said. “The community is beautiful, I can't say enough about it … this is my first time in Big Bear, so I'm coming back.”