Over the last week or so, a family of bald eagles in Big Bear Valley has captured the hearts of tens of thousands of people around the world. Bald eagle parents Jackie and Shadow hatched three chicks between March 3-6, 2025, and online birdwatchers have been watching the nest via a 24/7 live stream ever since. Devastatingly, after a heavy winter storm brought two feet of snow to Big Bear, we learned that one of the three eaglets did not survive.
On Thursday, live stream viewers grew worried as the nest cam showed only two of the three eaglets alive and well. It turns out that the snow berm around the nest had obstructed the third chick from view, and it wasn’t until the wee hours of Sunday morning that Friends of Big Bear Valley confirmed the chick was deceased. The organization’s executive director Sandy Steers has been providing updates via Facebook.
“We have no way to know what happened or why the chick passed,” wrote Steers in the post. “We also do not know which chick it was because they were all very close in size.”
“Jackie and Shadow also did what they needed to do with the chick who had passed away, so that they could move on from the sadness,” Steers added in another update. “In the early morning, Shadow moved it from the nest bowl to the side of the nest. And later, Jackie flew it off the nest. They both treated that chick with care in their process of releasing and letting go.”
In the wake of this upsetting news, we can take some comfort in the fact that the other two chicks are healthy and safe. After some of the heavy snow melted away, the chicks enjoyed some nice big feedings and basked in the sunshine on Sunday. Parents Jackie and Shadow also “shouted away” a nearby intruder, another young bald eagle that flew a little too close for comfort.
Friends of Big Bear Valley also disclosed that the snowstorm affected some of their livestream equipment. They are streaming from two cameras, one with a close-up view of the nest and one with a wide angle from a nearby viewpoint. The nest camera’s microphone and infrared (IR) light both went out during the storm, so the organization is currently feeding the sound from the wide-angle camera to the nest angle. The only nighttime light source is currently the IR light from the wide-angle camera.
About Big Bear’s bald eagle live cam
While Big Bear’s bald eagle nest has garnered plenty of attention in recent days, Friends of Big Bear Valley have live-streamed Jackie and Shadow’s lives since 2018. The eagle pair has laid more than 17 eggs together since 2018, including the three this month. The bald eagle nest is located about 145 feet up a Jeffrey Pine tree in Big Bear Valley.
More animal live cams to watch
If you love watching Big Bear’s bald eagle live cams, you’ll find that there are numerous other animal live streams to enjoy courtesy of more California organizations. SF’s own California Academy of Sciences operates four live webcams that are worth tuning into. Three of them are on-site at the Academy, depicting their penguin colony, reef lagoon, and Philippine coral reef. The fourth is stationed at a lighthouse in the Farallon Islands 30 miles off the coast of SF.
We’re also partial to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s live cams, which let you keep an eye on the kelp forest, penguins, open sea tank, sea otters, jellies, sharks, spider crabs, and more.
Finally, read Secret LA’s article about the San Diego Zoo’s Platypus Cam, which lets you watch the only two platypuses outside of Australia.