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U.S. Forest Service - San Bernardino National Forest
Here's an update from Big Bear’s bald eagle nest: As of yesterday afternoon, our Forest Service biologists suspected something was wrong with Egg #1’s hatching. Although the chick was heard peeping loudly in the morning, we couldn’t see it. The nest bowl has some depth to it and chicks don’t sit up for some time after hatching, so it wasn’t a surprise to not see it right away. Shadow and Jackie kept doing very quick shift changes and building up the nesting material between the camera and the nest bowl, further obscuring potential peeks for us. As the day went on, there were some signs that something was wrong with the chick. We stopped hearing the peeps and more significantly, neither of the parents brought any food to the nest. By last night, we were pretty sure that the signs added up to the chick having perished. Hatching is hard work and it is not unusual for chicks to die during the process of getting out of the shell. Today’s activities at the nest confirmed our fears. While we still haven’t actually seen the dead eaglet, but we’re confident that it is not alive. We continue to watch Egg #2. So far, we have not seen an external pip (first hole through the shell), but are hoping all is well and that we’ll see a chick soon. This has been a tough year for our Big Bear bald eagles. While fascinating, sometimes nature can be hard to watch.