A beloved female bald eagle missing for several days in California’s Big Bear Lake is believed to have been found alive but injured after a fight with other birds, according to the advocacy group that operates a live, viral nestcam.
Friends of Big Bear Valley said on Facebook on Sunday that observers first spotted the eagle on the ground last Thursday, then witnessed it involved a “short ground altercation with two other subadult eagles” on Friday.
“Cell phone video confirmed that the adult was able to fend off the other eagles by turning over and using its talons, but was unable to fly far away,” the post said.
An eagle called Jackie, the mother of two young chicks, had not been seen on the group’s cameras for a number of days, it said. A statement added that it was not immediately certain that the injured bird, rescued by San Dimas Raptor Rescue, a division of Los Angeles county parks foundation, was the same eagle.
“We do not know for sure who the eagle is and we do not have confirmation of its sex,” the statement said.
“There is a lot of misinformation and speculation online right now and we will provide the facts as we obtain them. We have not seen Jackie on our cameras for several days and we don’t know how many visiting eagles are currently in the area.”
Yet Friends of Big Bear Valley told Los Angeles news station KTLA5 on Sunday night that it now believed the rescued eagle is indeed Jackie, one half of a pairing with her partner Shadow that have become favorites on the Bear Lake bald eagle nest camera’s livestream in recent years.
That happened as video of the limping and bedraggled eagle in water was posted on Facebook by the parks and recreation department of LA county, along with several post-rescue images of it receiving medical care at an unidentified wildlife treatment facility.
Since Jackie’s disappearance, viewers have watched Shadow standing alone at the nest guarding the couple’s young chicks Sandy and Luna, who took their first flights only three weeks ago.
A chronology on the group’s website said Jackie and Shadow took possession of the abandoned nest in 2016, and laid eggs every year since, with most hatching successfully and others succumbing to challenging conditions including winter mountain snow.
Sandy and Luna hatched in the first week of April and are old enough to fly the nest any day, according to an article published on 16 July in Popular Science.
Separately, Friends of Big Bear Valley and other opponents have been fighting the construction of a luxury housing and marina development known as Moon Camp on the lake’s north shore.
The proposed development is adjacent to the eagle habitat and less than a mile from the nest of Jackie and Shadow, the only full-time resident bald eagles in the area, the group said in a statement on its website.
“It is an ecological corridor and supports rare and endangered plants, flying squirrels, migrating birds and the waterfowl and fish that Jackie and Shadow need to raise their chicks,” the statement said.
