The window is quickly closing for the second of two bald eagle eggs in Big Bear to hatch, with Friday being perhaps the last day possible.
That’s according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, a local nonprofit that operates the popular 24/7 nest cam of the region’s mating pair of bald eagles, Jackie and Shadow.
The egg being monitored is now about 42 days old, just outside the typical incubation period of 35 to 38 days.
“Though we are still in the window of possibility for hatching, with each passing day it is less likely,” the organization’s Facebook page stated in a post on Wednesday. “We will continue to observe, but sadly we believe by Friday that window will close.”
As of Friday morning, that was the last update on the nonprofit’s page.
If the egg doesn’t hatch, it’ll mark the latest in a string of tragedies that have befallen the nesting couple.
Just a week ago, an eaglet that appeared to be in the process of hatching — the baby bird could even be heard chirping at one point — abruptly stopped moving in its shell and died, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.
Earlier this year, the couple lost all three eggs in their first clutch, two of which were ravaged by ravens.
And last year, neither of the two eggs laid by Jackie hatched. The reason for the nest failure was unknown, but potential reasons can include lack of fertilization during mating, the embryo possibly not making it through the incubation period or the eaglet being unable to break out of its shell, according to officials.
On top of that, one of the couple’s two chicks born in 2019 died of apparent hypothermia after a late-season storm brought snow to the area in May.
As the nonprofit said of the latest egg potentially not hatching, “We do not and cannot know the why for any of this. It is nature, operating in its own way, without explanation.”