Internet-famous bald eagles Jackie and Shadow welcome 3rd chick
Two bald eagles whose nesting process has gone viral on YouTube have welcomed a third baby eagle.
Eagles Jackie and Shadow, who make their home in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California, welcomed their third chick on March 8, according to a Facebook post from Friends of Big Bear Valley, a nonprofit organization that shares live camera footage of the eagles' nest on YouTube.
"This little one is another precious gift that was carefully unwrapped in the early hours of this beautiful Saturday morning!" the organization wrote on Facebook. "Congratulations to Jackie and Shadow and their adorable nestmates Chick1 and Chick2!"
The Friends of Big Bear Valley nonprofit has been sharing two 24/7 livestreams of Jackie and Shadow's nest over the past several weeks.
The bald eagles gained worldwide popularity back in 2023 when the camera showed the couple with two eggs. At the time, the eggs failed to hatch, but three years later, Jackie and Shadow were spotted with three new eggs in their nest.
On March 3, eagle-eyed camera watchers spotted two pipping birds, as cracks in two of the three eggs began to appear. By that night, a baby eagle, or eaglet, had hatched from one of the three eggs.
A second eaglet began to hatch the next afternoon, on March 4.
"Chick #2 has joined [the] party!" Friends of Big Bear Valley shared in a Facebook post at the time. "By the wee hours this morning, Chick #1 had become a fluffy fuzz ball as it's downy covering dried into a soft gray coat. Then Chick #2 started 'zippering' its way out of the shell."
According to the nonprofit, "zippering" is "the final stage of hatching, as the little one pokes its egg tooth against the shell and uses its feet to spin it around and break a nearly straight line around the shell to crack it fully open."
From there, hatch watch continued for the third of Jackie and Shadow's eggs.
Friends of Big Bear Valley posted on March 6 that there was movement in the third egg, and by 6:30 a.m. on March 8, the third baby eagle had hatched.
"The chicks look healthy and will be eating alot and growing quickly," the organization wrote on Facebook shortly after the eagle's birth.
Since 2007, bald eagles are no longer considered endangered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. However, they remain a protected species, and it is unlawful to harm, kill or sell bald eagles, their nests or eggs.
