7 March 2025
Good Morning Everyone,
I don’t know about you but the thought of Jackie and Shadow with three eaglets in a nest with a huge storm in the Big Bear Valley has been the most energizing event I could imagine. Has it been the same for you? There is some beautiful reaffirmation that everything really is going to be fine. I am sleeping better, the only thing we have been watching on that screen we have been watching are two of the sweetest, most loved little eaglets ever to hatch. Still can’t believe it.
A break in the winter storm allowed Jackie to feed the first two hatches at the nest and for everyone to get a glimpse at the pip in the third egg. Most of us did not believe our eyes. Could it be possible?
Many were determined not to watch the agony of Jackie and Shadow incubating eggs that would not hatch and now – to the utter amazement of everyone, it looks like there will be three!!!!!!!!!
SK Hideaways caught that feeding on video: https://youtu.be/e6d7ulhLbsY?
I wonder if Jackie and Shadow can believe their eyes, too? https://youtu.be/GBtcM_22HW8?s
Calico is one of the biggest fans of Big Bear and hasn’t been able to take her eyes off the nest all morning. There has never been triplets before. She worries like the rest of us, but when Shadow was calling Jackie and the babies….well, she is glued.
KTLA has some of the most recent news and Sandi Spears is on and she is so excited: https://youtu.be/0lhsIUyHT7c?
There will be a naming contest. Suggestions will go in. 35 names picked at random and the Big Bear Third Graders will get the final votes! And just think – it has been three years without naming eaglets. This is so exciting.
KCAL has news: https://youtu.be/opt9GYNXYzQ?
Bluff City has a pip in its second egg!
Just look at Bodie! I think Gabby got herself a girl this year.
We are on pip watch for the second egg at Johnson City.
Pip watch at Moorings Park is coming on Saturday.
Everything is fine with the triplets at Duke Farms. https://youtu.be/it5WznBEu00?
Gosh, I wish that Frenchman’s Creek camera was better. You can hardly see if those two chicks are alive!
Sadly, one has perished. ‘H’ writes:
3/6 – At approximately 22:15 the GHO struck Mom who was brooding the 2.5 day old and 1.5 day old babies. One of the babies was thrown to the rails at the bottom of the nest. Mom returned to the nest after just a few minutes. A couple minutes later, the baby on the rails sticks began to squirm, and then fell through the sticks.”
I cannot tell you how much I dislike the GHOs that strike these osprey nests.
‘A’ is worried that Jak and Audacity’s egg is buried too deep. ‘A’ is not alone. She remarks, “Have you seen the depth of the pit Jak and Audacity have excavated under and around that egg? Yes, it is likely to protect the egg from cracking because there won’t be any significant body weight on it from the incubating parents or indeed any weight at all, but I’m not even sure the brood patch can come into contact with the egg because of the depth it is at. And as Audacity pulls in the dry grass and tucks it tighter around her, it gradually works its way down towards the bottom of the pit until presumably it buries the egg. I think it is getting dug out again periodically but it is in my opinion in a precarious position.
I greatly fear that Audacity may see one of her eggs survive to pip but the eaglet will be buried at the bottom of a deep pit with loose dry grass constantly piling up on top of it. How long before an external pip can Audacity (and Jak) hear the chick cheeping inside? And if they do, will they try to dig the egg up? And are they likely to succeed or will the dry grass they remove from the bottom simply slide back down the inside of the pit? At the moment, as I said, when Audacity is incubating, she pulls dried grass towards her and tucks it in around her body. Surely this will mean that every time she moves, more dry grass falls into the bottom of the pit and more deeply buries the egg.”
Squirrel dinner from Alex II at Kistache E3: https://youtu.be/fTUtthkKReE?
Calico’s Wall of Shame: If you promise to stop using lead ammunition and you don’t, well bloody shame on you!!!!!!
Mind you, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was scrolling around the telly. Please, please do not make the balloon arch on that new Netflix show with Meghan. I thought part of the idea was being kind to nature, being respectful for the environment. So then where did the balloons come from? No balloons, no balloon arches, and definitely not machines that blow balloons up. Kids do not need balloons. The environment does not need balloons. Wildlife die because of balloons. They go up, they come down. They burst. They have strings that bind little legs. Birds eat them. You just got added to Calico’s Wall of Shame.
Life is good. Smile. A big fish just came on the Big Bear Nest!
A visitor at Cal Falcons.
Thank you for being with us today. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and just all the stations, TV and radio or otherwise, that are covering Jackie and Shadow: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J’, SK Hideaways, FOBBV, KTLA, KCAL, Bluff City-ETSU, Moorings Park Osprey Platform, Duke Farms, Wings of Whimsy, Frenchman’s Creek, Nesting Birdlife and More, Raptor Persecution UK, Cal Falcons, NE Florida-AEF
