The eagles typically lay eggs in late January. Incubation, hatching, and early chick rearing run through late winter and early spring.
Over the years, Jackie and Shadow have become fan favorites as viewers watch them overcome storms, snow, heat, and the occasional raven or intruding eagle. Their nest sits more than a mile above sea level in the San Bernardino Mountains. Here, changing weather at Big Bear Lake can bring bright sunshine one day and heavy snow the next. That dramatic setting makes every visit to the Big Bear Eagle cam a little different. You may see calm sunrise lake views or intense wind and snow events that test the nest.
Previous Year Egg Laid Dates
2018–2019 Mar 6, Mar 9
2019–2020 Jan 8, Jan 11
2020–2021 Jan 6, Jan 9, Jan 13 · Feb 8, Feb 11
2021–2022 Jan 22, Jan 25
2022–2023 Jan 11, Jan 14
2023–2024 Jan 25, Jan 28, Jan 31
2024–2025 Jan 22, Jan 25, Jan 28
2025-2026 Jan 23
The live camera feeds are provided by Friends of Big Bear Valley, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the eagles and their habitat. To learn more, read nest updates, or make a donation that helps keep the cameras running. This also supports local conservation, visit friendsofbigbearvalley.org.
Use the wide-angle view to watch the surrounding forest and weather over Big Bear Lake. Alternatively, switch to the nest view for a close-up look at Jackie and Shadow on the bald eagle nest. Viewers often zoom in to see egg turning, feeding, and wing exercises from growing eaglets. You can also catch nighttime visits under infrared lights. Whether you drop in for a quick check or follow the pair through the nesting season, the Big Bear Eagle cams offer a front-row seat to the lives of Jackie and Shadow in all four seasons.
See more bald eagle cams
8/3 Ojai Patient Update: Today’s bloodwork brought some difficult news. Her packed cell volume (PCV) has dropped to 13%, which means her anemia has worsened since our last update. Our veterinary team is responding quickly. Additional advanced diagnostic testing is now underway, and expedited laboratory testing has been requested as we continue working to better understand her condition and guide the next steps in her treatment. At this stage, we do not have further answers to share, but we promise to keep you informed as soon as we have meaningful new information.
Thank you MaryNJ for the update….prayers
You’re welcome, redroses.
I wish I could hug each one of you for real.My heart hurts for Jackie and Shadow, but each one of you too.
Thank you Debbie,
A group hug would really help. I know my heart, stomach and everything hurts for Jackie. I wish we could blow her kisses 😘, and make her feel better and be healthy. We will all hang tight in this together for our girl, Shadow and the wonderful caretakers.
hugs and prayers. Staying hopeful.
Very sweetly said Lisa.
Thanks you again for hugs!!!
I just read an article that Jackie’s anemia is worse, her numbers have fallen to 13 %. It is not looking too good for our queen of Big Bear 😥
My heart is so heavy for her, bozsmom.
😪 That’s not good news. Poor Jackie, it sounds like the blood transfusion temporarily helped, but because they didn’t find out what is causing the anemia, she has digressed again. I wonder if they had to put her back in Intensive Care for oxygen again.
I read that story, it is so sad. Wish they could find the reason for the anemia, the underlying cause.
Me too. That is the key to her survival.
It could be so many things.
Maybe they will give her another blood transfusion to buy more time until the newer blood tests come back (with the hope of a treatment arising from the test results). The Ojai Director said that they will be monitoring her blood cell levels regularly and that they are testing her for other toxic metals that were not yet tested, but that the results will take several weeks to come back (ugh!). If they keep taking blood from an eagle who has a problem generating red blood cells, it seems that would lower her RBC levels.
I had not thought about the blood draws depleting and lowering blood levels, but I suppose that is possible. I do hope they can discover the reasons for her illness. A friend of mine, Karen who chats here told me yesterday more history of Jackie at Big Bear. It is a fantastic history, one that I didn’t know existed. She was known as a hatchling in the area. I always thought eaglets eventually left a nest area and moved on. Wow, the Big Bear story is quite the story.
Yes, I read that she was the first eagle hatchling at Big Bear. Juvies often leave a nest area to explore, but I read that as mature eagles, they frequently settle down within 50 miles of their natal nest. Big Bear is a great area for an eagle to settle down. Lots of tall trees. Lots of fish. I understand why she would stay there or return back there as a mature adult. Wish all of the states banded eaglets like NJ does. Then we would know where/which nest Shadow and Mr B (her first mate) came from.
Thanks for that info. Sure wish we would get GOOD news.
I keep hoping and praying for some good news, like a test result that will give a valuable clue on how to treat her to clear up the anemia.
I feel as you do. I wonder what could be going on that is so hard to diagnose.
Don’t know 🤔I was wondering why they didn’t just test all of the toxic heavy metals from the very beginning instead of only doing lead and zinc and then waiting two weeks to do the other heavy metal tests. But then, I thought about how little red blood cells she had when she was rescued. They probably couldn’t take too much blood in the beginning, so they chose to test the 2 most common metal poisons that show up in sick raptors. I don’t know how much blood birds have, but it probably isn’t very much even for a healthy… Read more »
What you say makes sense. I wonder if eagles have blood types? If not, there are captive, healthy eagles all over the country that could donate blood, not just one in Alaska. But I’m sure this rehab has their reasons for what they do. i don’t know if you know this, but I have a parrot. Our vet in Louisville KY would sure know about this. She is an exotic vet and sees lots of mostly parrots. But she worked many years as the avian vet at Busch Gardens in Florida. And you know there are vets like her all… Read more »
Spirit is in Calm Zoo in Bakersfield, CA, but they can use some other healthy eagle from CA. I read one article that said they don’t do blood typing when doing a blood transfusion with birds. They just take blood from a healthy similar type of bird. The article stated that there is some risk involved because they don’t check for compatibility. One time on the Avian Exotic Clinic show (Nat Geo Wild) Dr Kelleher did a blood transfusion using blood from a healthy macaw for a sick macaw. I can’t remember what sickness the macaw had. I didn’t research… Read more »
My first parrot was a budgie named Niki. He was just full of personality. Lived 12 years. We got Casey, a Yellow Naped Amazon, in 1988 and still have him. He had a stroke in the early days of Covid. We got Marita in 1989, my avatar. She died of an unusual heart condition in 2017. But I really think it was caused by zinc poisoning she got at age 4. We dealt with that most of her life. You have a great memory! I remember talking to you now in FL, my first nest I watched. Thanks for the… Read more »
My budgies only lived 5 years and 10 years. 12 years of life is really good for a budgie. How did Marita get exposed to zinc?
Paint on a play gym stand. Yes more than one vet said to us congratulations on having a 12 year old budgie. A ten year old one is really good too. Niki died of an abdominal tumor. He was healthy in every other way. We loved that little bird and got him a human foot stone, engraved, to mark where we buried him.
Wow. I didn’t know paint can contain zinc. I knew that old houses can have lead in house paint. My budgies were Michael and Gabriel. I didn’t know their gender when I named them because they were both too young to identify the gender by cere color, but it was a good guess because they both turned out out be males. I buried both of my budgies under a fruit (pear) tree in the yard. No marker though. We sure can get attached to our pets.
That little $15 ball of feathers was loved beyond belief. Just full of personality.
Still praying for Jackie every day…
There is afire at near the bottom of Big Bear.. Route 38 that goes to. Big Bear is closed… Pray they get it out..
🙏🙏
🙏
there’s another eagle on that dead tree with “JOLENE”. I wonder who it is. 🤔
the more I look at it might be just her/😅 I need new glasses
LOL!! My husband and I have been sitting here for over a half hour trying to figure out if it’s one bird or two!!😂
well I sure am glad it wasn’t just me 😆😂
The eagle in the dead tree from 12:40 to 14:15 is a sub adult. It has a lot of brown feathers on the head. Yesterday or the day before, I saw an eagle briefly perched in a different tree that looked like it was about 4 years old. Mostly white head and only a little brown feathers. Don’t know if it was a male or female though. Was this the one you saw today?
Yes, that’s the one I saw today
That was the sub adult
yes that’s Jolene
It is comforting to know I am not alone feeling this way…… thanks all 💞
You are not alone with the love and concern wishes for only the best for our feathered loved ones. So much worry and concern
There are a lot of people who feel like you. I imagine a lot more than any of us know. ABC News has had brief segments on this nest all year. Bet there are people who have never watched wildlife who have made an effort to learn about this nest.
Thanks to all who are supplying information and updates. Hugs for all who are experiencing lots of emotions. We know these are our wild, beloved creatures, but we can’t help that we are humans also.
Thank you Debbie for the shared hugs. Can’t help but feel many emotions.
so grateful for Ojai !!!
Let’s all just hope for the best. And support each other.
That’s right Debbie!!
Thank you.