How Jackie met Shadow: The story behind Big Bear’s famous eagles

When Big Bear’s celebrity bald eagle couple’s eggs were eaten by ravens in late January, they didn’t grieve alone.

Thousands had watched Jackie and Shadow on livestream, as they meticulously arranged sticks in their nest high in a Jeffrey pine and nibbled each other’s feathers in preparation for laying. All seemed just dandy until both eagles left their nest unattended, and ravens swooped in.

Fans recently faced more heartbreak: Last month, Sandy Steers, executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, which operates the nest camera, died at 73 after a private battle with cancer.

Sandy Steers, the late executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, trains her binoculars on a pair of nesting bald eagles at Big Bear Lake in 2018.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Losing Steers, and the eggs, unleashed an outpouring. Facebook posts announcing the tragic events received more than 12,000 comments.

“Her stories just were so calming,” said Jenny Voisard, media and website manager for Friends of Big Bear Valley, they “would just bring you to the nest.”

Once upon a time in Big Bear…

The story of how two eagles just doing eagle things became an internet sensation goes back nearly 20 years, when postcard-perfect Big Bear had no year-round eagles.

The white-headed raptors would show up in winter to feast on fish when their lakes farther north froze over. Some built “practice nests” in the area as a bonding ritual, but they all headed home eventually.

Then, in 2009, a tagged male from Catalina stuck around for the summer. Soon a pair formed. They constructed a nest on the north side of the lake, laying down a foundation for a lineage that endures today.

That first pair — called Ricky and Lucy by the U.S. Forest Service — hatched Jackie in 2012.

In October 2015, the nonprofit first set up its nest camera, but there was nothing to see. Ricky and Lucy had shifted to a new nest and, within a year, left the area. (A second camera was added in 2021 to capture a wider view of their habitat.)

Not long after, an eagle believed to be their daughter Jackie started hanging around the old nest. A male, dubbed Mr. B., joined her. Reality stars were born.

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The following season, Jackie was tending two downy babies — BBB (Big Bear Baby) and Stormy.

Joy has always lived alongside sorrow in the nest: BBB passed away amid intense rain and freezing temperatures, while Stormy continued to thrive.

During the summer of 2018, when Stormy was still a nestling, “an adult male intruder showed up to the nest and with great tenacity, refused to leave,” wrote Friends of Big Bear Valley. Mr. B. eventually moved on and the interloper, dubbed Shadow, moved in.

The couple is now in their eighth year nesting together.

Star quality (and star-level PR)

Last year, Jackie and Shadow raised Sunny and Gizmo, pictured here as hatchlings.

There are more than two dozen cams broadcasting eagles across the country. They have their devoted fans, to be sure, but their social media following trails the Big Bear pair.

In Pittsburgh, the Glen Hazel eagles recently showed off their second egg of the year to a virtual audience. Another livestreamed couple, north of Decorah, Iowa, also welcomed a second egg. A cam in Southwest Florida — where eaglet E26 is growing up — has a whopping 175,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Friends of Big Bear Valley has 1.2 million followers on Facebook and 727,000 on YouTube; Vosiard says she thinks Jackie and Shadow’s highly individual personalities set them apart.

“There’s so many different sides to Jackie,” she said, ticking off a litany: “She’s fierce, she’s gentle, she’s demanding. She’s nurturing. She’s a mother. She’s a warrior.”

Shadow on the other hand is “very protective. He’s also very giving and generous. He doesn’t give up easily and he’s a very attentive father.”

The late Steers had a degree in biology, and was once a volunteer eagle counter for the Forest Service. Asked to observe a newborn chick, she stood in the frigid winter air and watched the eaglet through a scope as it grew and eventually took flight. “She totally fell in love with this eagle,” Voisard said. That eagle is believed to be Jackie, who is now 14. Shadow is 12.

Steers was also an original member of a nonprofit formed 25 years ago to fight a planned housing development called Moon Camp. That nonprofit would become Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Moon Camp remains an adversary. In September, San Bernardino County supervisors approved the 50-home project despite claims it will take away valuable foraging areas for the raptors. San Bernardino County officials insist the project won’t harm the eagles, saying it went through “extensive environmental review” to ensure that.

The nonprofit recently announced an effort to raise $10 million to buy the land.

Today, a small squad of volunteers and contractors watch and record data on Jackie and Shadow every second of the day. Some are overseas to keep tabs overnight. They track who is in the nest and count every stick and “fluff” delivery. They document vocals, mating and all things egg.

The nonprofit also keeps an “eagle log” chronicling the couple’s lives. It’s playful, almost poetic. Nest building? That’s “nestorations” in this universe. Jackie and Shadow aren’t just a mated pair, they share a “beautiful love story.” Supporting characters like Fiona, a flying squirrel, and Dash, a deer mouse, round out the cast.

Steers “believed that having a balance of story and science is the way to reach people,” Voisard said. “This was all her vision.”

Many schools use the nest cam as an educational tool, introducing kids to Jackie and Shadow. Older and disabled watchers are able to connect to nature they may not be able to easily access. Emergency room workers watch to unwind. A woman even translated Steers’ eagle stories into braille so her mother could enjoy their adventures.

A comeback for the ages

Sept. 2024 image of Valentine, a bald eagle that had DDT poisoning.

Bald eagles in the lower 48 were in danger of extinction by the early 1960s, shot in droves by hunters in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and poisoned by DDT after World War II.

But legal protections and the banning of DDT allowed for a comeback.

Today, biologist Pete Bloom estimates there are at least 22 pairs of the majestic birds in Southern California. They’re able to thrive thanks to reservoirs built between roughly 1890 and 1960. Not only are the waters often stocked with bass and trout, which the eagles chow down on, but they’re surrounded by trees where they nest.

“So balds benefited from humanity and the huge population in the L.A. basin and vicinity, because we all needed water,” he said.

Still, threats remain: Rat poison, electrocution on power lines, lead poisoning, West Nile virus and avian flu top the list.

Bloom believes there’s “too much anthropogenic stuff” heaped on the present-day Big Bear pair. He isn’t even convinced it’s the same eagles year after year, since they’re not banded. But he sees the appeal of the eagle cam.

“Who cannot appreciate a bird of prey?” he said. “Looking at it, whether it’s perched or soaring or dealing with the capture of its prey, it’s pretty impressive.”

The circle of life

Nature is messy. With the webcam in place, that’s on full display.

Fans won’t ever know exactly why the doting parents lapsed in their watch of the eggs a month ago, though the nonprofit believes they had their reasons.

One egg was cracked, and they may have left because they knew it wasn’t viable. They may also have been off defending the nest from other eagles.

The way the couple is “able to just keep moving on and living life no matter what happens is inspiring to people,” Voisard said.

After losing their clutch, the eagles brought sticks, fluff and prey to the nest, and mated — all signs new eggs might come. But there was no guarantee.

Then, last Tuesday, Jackie started pancaking — lying flat in the nest bowl — for long stretches and her eyes looked sleepy. Her feathers roused and she let out “tea kettle whistles.”

Labor was underway.

When a new egg arrived, it set the internet ablaze.