The celebrity bald eagles Jackie and Shadow have lost one of their newly hatched eagles, a fresh reminder that tender-hearted humans watch wildlife cams at their own risk.
Fans of the bald eagles, who nest in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California, noted Friday that one of the three eaglets that had recently hatched was missing. Despite temporary hope that that the eaglet was simply obscured by snow in the nest, the Friends of Big Bear Valley confirmed Saturday that the eaglet had died — and, even worse news for the squeamish, was still in the nest, along with the remains of other recently living creatures that Shadow, the eaglets’ father, had brought to the nest for a family feast.
The passing of the eaglet — last seen alive eating with its siblings Thursday evening — came as high winds and 2 feet of snow pummeled the nest, which is approximately 125 feet above the ground, in a Jeffrey pine tree.
Jackie, the mother, had been celebrated for steadfastly keeping her babies warm by sitting on the nest, but later, it was reported that both parents had left the nest for a while, leaving the eaglets exposed to the elements and predators. In the past two years, the eagles lost their clutch of eggs: in 2023, to hungry ravens; in 2024, possibly to the cold.
If the couple can raise the remaining eaglets to adulthood, they’re still beating the odds: Only about 50% of eaglets survive their first year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We do not know what happened or why it passed,” the nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley, which operates the 24-7 livestream, said in a statement, adding, “Please allow yourself to grieve and feel whatever you feel. Please honor the chick for its courage in getting as far as it did and doing whatever it came to do.”
One of the parents was later seen removing the carcass of the chick from the nest and flying off with it on Sunday morning.
The eaglets’ parents are unknowingly participating in an avian version of “The Truman Show,” the Jim Carrey movie about a man whose life was filmed for the world’s entertainment without his knowledge. Jackie has been on camera since she hatched 13 years ago, and has been a mating partner with Shadow since 2018.
The other two were alive and being fed by their mother amid a strong breeze on Monday morning.
Jackie and Shadow aren’t the only bald eagles on camera; there’s another in West Virginia on the campus of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center. The service also trains cameras on seals, bears and kelp at various times of the year, in addition to the numerous other animal cameras run by nonprofits and zoos that keep Americans entertained — although it’s hard to compete with the Smithsonian’s giant panda cam, and of course, Project RattleCam, a seasonal live view of rattlesnakes.