Highlights
Highlights from the FOBBV YouTube Team: ⬇️ 4/21
* The Big Bear Nest Diaries: A beautiful sunrise 🌅 sets the tone for this morning as Jackie and the chicks wake up. They get a couple breakfasts before Shadow comes in at 7:40 though he doesn’t stay long. Shadow appeared to favor his left talon a bit but it didn’t seem to hinder him from doing normal eagle things. He does take a longer shift starting at 10:52. We also observe ravens chasing Jackie at that time, she is fine and went to the Cactus 🌵 Snag. Later in the day, it got a bit more windy 🌬️ and in the evening the fog rolled in. Jackie brings a night time fish 🐟 at 18:19 taking over for the night. Around 19:45 we did observe a fishing line on Jackie. We have had fishing lines before, and often they are able to dislodge it. We will keep an eye on it. 🌙 Roost Snug Jackie & Shadow and chicks, we love you! ♥️
* Quiet Moments: At 10:51:58 chicks watch Jackie leave the nest. With a single, effortless push, Jackie was airborne. 🦅 The chick's head raised up, tracking her as she rose on a thermal. At that moment, the chick wasn’t just watching its mom leave. It was downloading the blueprint for its own future and saw the way the world opened up. 💗
* Daily Fun Fact: “STRONG WINDS” 🌬️ The Big Bear nest is a marvel of animal engineering. Since it’s perched roughly 145 feet up in a Jeffrey Pine 🌲, Jackie and Shadow have to deal with winds that could knock a human off their feet. Strong sustained winds and wind gusts are not uncommon in the mountains (~7100 ft ASL). Our nest 🪹 has withstood wind gusts in excess of 80 mph over the years, sustained winds - in excess of 40mph. When the wind gusts get strong, the eagle on duty does not just sit, it uses the “Anchor” Technique by anchoring their beaks to the nest. 🪶
* Daddy Duties: Shadow had 5 nest 🪺 visits, 3 brooding sessions. Total nest time for Shadow was 2 hours, 8 min. Bringing 0 fish to His Chicks and Queen Jackie. 🐟
* Munchies and Mutes: Jackie and Shadow served 8 feedings. Full crops were observed on both chicks. 29+ PS🐥(Poop Shots) were sliced, 1 was right on 🎯!!
📊 Today’s Tallies:
💠Jackie (J): 21 hours, 47 min in nest, 2 fluff, 1 fish
💠Shadow (S): 2 hours, 8 min in nest, 2 sticks
*only a few events-of-interest are listed