Happy first day of Fall in the eagle's nest! Throughout the month of September, Jackie and Shadow have both been seen and heard often around their eagle habitat. The last stick was brought into the nest by Jackie on 8/25 and both eagles visited briefly on 8/24. They have not actually made a nest visit for 27 days so everyone was excited to see them together in the nest on Saturday afternoon!
They both looked in great form, with most of their new feathers from their annual spring/summer molt. Jackie's white head looked a bit darker than her whiter tail feathers, perhaps from some remaining ash in the air. Shadow's tail feathers (rectrices) looked a bit dirty but just fine. If it remains, this could possibly be used as a field mark to identify him easier in future visits. Jackie had a black spot on a tail feather last season which appears to have been replaced with this current molt.
Jackie arrived first on Saturday and stayed on the nest the longest, just under two hours. She spent some time preening, as well as tidying up, as she waited for Shadow to come over from the Lookout Snag tree. It's pretty well known that queen Jackie seems to be somewhat meticulous about her appearance, so she is likely to be seen preening more often than Shadow.
They vocalized back and forth to each other about something important before Shadow arrived. As soon as he flew in, he got to work helping Jackie move sticks around, but he was still in observation mode and continued to check things out around the nest tree. During his seven minutes there with Jackie, they worked together, got in a quick beaky kiss and posed for some amazing photos before flying off to the Roost Tree together for the night.
Last week, Jackie and Shadow spent some early morning time on their favorite snag trees and shared a few beaky kisses in the Lookout Snag. The bird choirs are still quite vocal in the forest and several varieties of little feathered friends have been visiting the nest daily. And of course, we've also seen Fiona, the San Bernardino flying squirrel, scurrying around in the nest at night as she digs for treats and small treasures.
Toward the end of last week, cooler weather was welcomed to the area on Friday as wind and clouds rolled in. The rain and brief graupel brought a nice refreshing to the area and hopefully also a little cleansing to the nest.
The weather is predicted to warm up a bit again next week. The Line Fire is currently 60% contained (as of 9/22). Hopefully, the winds continue to remain minimal and the Big Bear skies will remain clear. Again, we are thankful to all the dedicated firefighters who are still working tirelessly to contain this fire, as they keep everyone safe, including the local wildlife. They are all amazing heros to so many!
We are all very excited to see Jackie and Shadow start to come into the nest more in the weeks to come to begin nestorations for the upcoming nesting season As always, thank you for being here with us eagle family and we appreciate your support!
BKind22
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