One of two bald eagle eggs in a nest near Big Bear Lake hatched Sunday morning, and the Friends of Big Bear Valley’s Eagle Cam captured it live.
The pair of eagles, Jackie and Shadow, welcomed their first egg on March 6, and a second on March 9, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
One of the eggs could be seen cracking Saturday as the chick inside began to break through the shell, or “pip,” right on schedule. The chick emerged around 8:20 a.m. on Sunday.
“The incubation period for bald eagle eggs averages around 35 days,” the USFS said in a written statement after the second egg arrived last month. “The parents will switch off incubation duties to keep the eggs warm as the embryos develop. If all goes well, including if the eggs were fertilized in the first place during mating, chicks should hatch in early to mid-April.”
After the first egg hatched on Sunday morning, the Friends of Big Bear Valley reported an “epic standoff” between the bald eagle parents.
“Shadow won’t get up,” the group said in a Facebook post. “Jackie has used all of her powers of persuasion, to no avail.”
It took a few minutes before Shadow finally stood up to let Jackie have her turn, the eagle cam shows.
This year’s bald eagle count confirmed 13 of the raptors living in Southern California, officials said. They include six in Big Bear, one at Lake Arrowhead, one at Lake Hemet, two at the Lake Perris State Recreation Area and three at the Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area.
Volunteers counted 11 bald eagles in Southern California in 2017, and 15 in 2017.
“Several dozen bald eagles typically spend their winter vacations around Southern California’s lakes, adding to a few resident nesting bald eagles that stay year-round,” according to the statement. “Agency biologists recruit the public to help monitor the local population by conducting simultaneous counts.”
The area near the nest, which is on National Forest land near the north shore of Big Bear Lake, is off-limits to the public until both chicks have fledged, officials said. The eagles could be disturbed by human interference and abandon their nest if they feel threatened.
KTLA’s Kristina Bravo contributed to this report.
