The second egg of the year has arrived for Jackie and Shadow, Big Bear’s famous nesting pair of bald eagles.
Jackie laid the egg about 3.43 p.m. Tuesday, exactly 72 hours to the minute of her first, according to the San Bernardino National Forest.
The event was captured on the 24/7 live camera feed of the couple’s nest, which is run by Friends of Big Bear Valley. The organization uploaded the footage to its Facebook page for fans to watch the joyous moment.
Jackie typically lays her eggs three days apart, so this perfectly followed her normal pattern. It’s unclear whether the female will lay another egg, but a bald eagle’s clutch generally contains up to three.
Bald eagle eggs take approximately 35 days to incubate. However, the species waits to incubate their eggs until the full clutch is laid.
“Due to delayed incubation, the first egg usually hatches around 38 to 39 days, the 2nd egg hatches 1 to 2 days after the first,” Friends of Big Bear Valley explained.
That means the eggs will likely begin hatching around March 1, provided Jackie doesn’t lay any more, according to a post on the National Forest’s Facebook page.
Sadly for the mating couple, none of their seven eggs in the previous two years successfully hatched.
The pair’s nest is located on the northwest side of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest, and the area around it is currently closed off to the public to avoid any disturbances.
Fans can monitor Jackie and Shadow through the popular Big Bear Bald Eagle Live Nest Cam.
