Big Bear’s most famous bald eagle couple has welcomed triplets. Jackie and Shadow had three successful eggs hatch this month for the first time since researchers began observing the nest. As thousands of people tune into Friends of Big Bear Valley’s livestream of the nest, Executive Director Sandy Steers joined host Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today” to talk about the hatchlings.

Steers began observing Jackie, the mother of the eaglets, when Jackie was a hatchling. After observing her at a distance, Friends of Big Bear Valley installed a solar-powered camera in the tree where Jackie and her mate Shadow now live. Steers spoke about eagles’ mating practices leading up to the eggs hatching.

“They start mating, up here anyway, in late October or early November. That is when they started this year. Sometimes it’s early October, but we hear them especially toward the end of the year,” she said. “We hear mating calls and mating vocalizations from nearby, so we know they’re doing that. And eagles in general don’t start mating until they’re 5 [years old]. So that’s when they’re sexually mature.”

Steers said that eagles mate for life, though Jackie did have a mate before Shadow came along. 

“When she first came to this nest, she had a mate that was named Mr. B, and she had chicks with him the first year,” said Steers. “And then, then when that chick had just fledged that was named Stormy... another eagle came that was just turning five years old and it wouldn’t leave. They would chase it away and it would just go out in a further limb, or it would fly away for a little bit and come back. And Mr. B tried to chase it away. And Stormy, the chick, tried to chase it away and Jackie did, but after a couple of weeks of doing this and it kept coming back, but I saw Mr. B on the nest for the last time. He left. He gave up and left.”

Now, after years of disappointment, Jackie and Shadow have their first set of triplets successfully hatched. But, with a winter storm moving through the area, some are concerned for their welfare. Steers said there is no reason to worry.

“Jackie and Shadow are taking very good care of the chicks. It’s amazing to have three of them and to have all three hatch out. I’m beyond excited and thrilled with all of this,” she said. “And the third one that hatched is much stronger immediately than the other two were right after they hatched. So I give it a good chance. And for the storm, when they’re all this small and they can all fit under Jackie and Shadow, they will be fine. The parents will keep them perfectly warm and dry, and they’ll sail right through.”

As the eaglets continue to grow, the public can participate in naming them. 

“We’ll put out a notice and have everybody be able to submit names,” Steers said. “And then the computer will randomly draw about 30 names, and we will give those to the local third graders because they study eagles in the third grade up here. And they will get to vote and select the top three names for the chicks.”

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.

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