Eagle Seems To Be Trying To Convince Mate 'It's Time To Let Go' Of Nonviable Eggs

Bald eagles Jackie and Shadow had thousands of fans watching a livestream of their California nest, hoping to witness eaglets hatch.

Two bald eagles whose Southern California nest has been the focus of a widely watched livestream now seem to be coping with the reality that their eggs are apparently nonviable.

Jackie, a female, and Shadow, a male, are mates who persevered through intense rain, wind and snow to protect the three eggs Jackie laid in January. Their relationship, and the promise of adorable eaglets, had tens of thousands of viewers tuned in to the live feed of their nest, located high in a tree in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Last month it became apparent that the eggs would almost certainly not hatch after all, though the pair continued to take “dedicated care” of them, Friends of Big Bear Valley, a nonprofit that operates the nest camera, said at the time.

Jackie seems to have accepted that reality more quickly than Shadow.

As of Wednesday, she had not sat on the eggs in a few days, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s Sandy Steers wrote in an update. Not only that, but Jackie was also “trying every trick in her book to convince” Shadow “that it’s time to let go,” Steers wrote.