Bald eagle dad Shadow has been anxiously waiting for his turn to tend to eggs in a snow-covered nest in California, a nonprofit said.
When Shadow finally got his moment, he was greeted with a big surprise: There were now three eggs, Friends of Big Bear Valley executive director Sandy Steers said in a Facebook post.
Jackie laid her third egg before 6 p.m. Feb. 1 in Big Bear. But she spent the entire night incubating the eggs as snow piled onto the nest and covered her wings, a video shows.
“No matter how many times Jackie got covered with snow during the storm, she simply stood up, shook it off, rolled her eggs and settled back down to incubate them,” Steers said in the post.
Shadow had been spotted nearby, but the nonprofit said Jackie wasn’t ready to give up her turn tending to the eggs.
However, by the next afternoon Jackie flew off, and “within seconds” Shadow landed on a branch near the nest, the video shows.
He curiously approached the eggs and tried to settle over them, but he had to keep readjusting so they would all fit under his brood patch, the video shows.
Eventually he lowered down successfully.
Jackie laid her first egg Jan. 25, and her second egg followed three days later, McClatchy News previously reported.
Hundreds of people commented their excitement for the eagles on the Facebook post.
“So cute how he was navigating the three to position over and rocking so proud back and forth like ‘I’ve got three eggs here!!!’” one person commented.
“What a privilege to be part of this incredible story,” another person wrote.
Eagles lost two eggs in 2023
Last year, Jackie and Shadow weren’t so lucky. They abandoned their nest with two unhatched eggs, McClatchy News previously reported.
Jackie laid her first egg of 2023 on Jan. 11, then her second one three days later in the middle of a storm.
The two protected the eggs from predators, cold weather and snow. But the eggs never hatched and eventually became a snack for a hungry raven.
The bald eagles have been successful in the past, though. In 2022, one of their two eggs hatched and was named Spirit, according to the nonprofit.
The baby eagle was believed to be a female by the nonprofit and fledged that year.
Big Bear Lake is about 95 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
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