FOBBVCAM ~ SUB ADULT REMAINS IN TERRITORY & FOLLOWS SHADOW PERCHING CLOSE! NO SANDY OR LUNA 7.24.26 [3k1KATnRCso]
Shadow is found on the Simba tree early in the morning as he looks out over his territory and starts his day. He appears to be waiting for Jackie or to hear her beautiful chortles once again breaking through the dawn. Hopefully Jackie will recover and return to Big Bear Lake and the nest once again and be reunited with Shadow! But we have a persistent female sub adult in the midst and it follows Shadow around the area, perching in all his favorite trees. When the sub adult flies in to Twin Pines in the afternoon, Shadow is very vocal and he flies off the branch. Shadow is not interested in this sub adult as he has Sandy & Luna to take care of still. The sub adult remained in the Simba tree overnight while Shadow went to the Roost tree alone. No visits to the nest or surrounding trees by Sandy or Luna since July 23rd. They are perching & roosting in trees not seen by the cam. Bald eagle parents general follow & feed their juveniles for 1-2 months after they fledge (leave the nest) typically until the young are 4 though 6 months old. While they fledge at around 4 months, they remain dependent on parents within the home range to learn hunting skills before fully wandering on their own often by late summer or early fall. Juveniles don’t really need to be taught hunting per se. Hunting is instinctive, they figure it out by trial and error. Many juvenile eagles have been released and reintroduced into the wild by humans through the hacking process (controlled release of a juvenile from an artificial nest). Those eagles did not have the benefit of learning from adult birds, and they still did quite well on their own. During the first few months and up to a year they primarily scavenge and steal food from others. Hunting live prey is an acquired skill. Driven by wanderlust, Sandy & Luna are expanding their range and moving further and further away from the natal area. At this point, the nest has lost its meaning as a home base and food source. It’s just another perch tree, which they may or may not visit by random luck (lucky for us eagle followers of course). Big Bear Lake is 7 miles long, surrounded by hundreds of acres of woodlands. Juveniles are camouflaged very well and may be very hard to spot. Sandy & Luna may eventually meet different Juveniles dispersing from other local SoCal nests, as well as visiting Sub-Adults and Adults. The Bald Eagle population has been recovering for quite some time. By now, there are over 20 “neighboring” nesting territories on the Channel Islands and even more on the mainland of SoCal. We know that Sandy & Luna are still close by - perhaps towards the lake and shoreline. We can hear their vocals still from cam 1 and Shadow's vocals as well. Sound does carry and Luna has a set of lungs on him!! We continue to pray for Jackie's recovery and for the team of specialists at Ojai Raptor Center to find the cause of her severe anemia and treat it! ♥ Original live video courtesy of @FOBBVCAM The opinions presented on this channel do not necessarily reflect the opinions of FOBBV Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk Male Eagle: Shadow (unbanded) Estimated hatch year 2014 Female Eagle: Jackie (unbanded) Estimated hatch year 2012 2026 Highlights: Egg #1 laid on 1/23/26 at 16:32:24PM Egg #2 laid on 1/26/26 at 17:09:24PM Egg #1 & Egg #2 were breached by Ravens on 1/30/26 at 15:25PM `````````````````````````` Egg #1 of 2nd clutch laid on 2/24/26 at 14:29:38PM Egg #2 of 2nd clutch laid on 2/27/26 at 17:55:33PM Chick 1 hatched on 4/4/26 at 21:33:35PM Day 39 - named Sandy Chick 2 hatched on 4/5/26 at 08:30:45AM Day 37- Easter Sunday! Named Luna Sandy accidental fledge 6/28/26 Day 84 Luna fledge 6/29/26 at 09:24:43 - Day 85