For those looking for an update on one of California’s famous eagles, things could be better for the bald eagle known as Jackie… but she’s still fighting to survive and make it back to her nest.
California’s Big Bear Lake is home to two certifiable celebrities: Jackie and Shadow. People on the internet have fallen in love with the pair of bald eagles ever since Friends of Big Bear Valley set up a nature camera facing towards their nest. The nonprofit is the one that set up the camera on the nest, which Jackie and Shadow have been utilizing it to birth many eaglets in the past couple of years.
It was earlier this year in April that the bald eagle couple welcomed two eaglets into the world on Easter weekend (weeks after their set of eggs laid months earlier were ravaged by ravens). And all was well with the bald eagle family since then, until last week, when Jackie went missing.
Friends of Big Bear Valley shared videos of the nest, and Jackie was nowhere to be seen. That prompted a multitude of “Where’s Jackie” comments, and after a few days, even the nonprofit became concerned. Since baldies are very habitual, it was very out of the norm for Jackie to not return to the nest… and many hypothesized that she may have been injured, rendering her unable to make it back to the nest.
Those concerns were warranted, because yesterday, Jackie was finally found suffering from an injury. There’s video that appears to show Jackie being attacked by two younger eagles, and really holding her own. However, in the battle, she suffered injuries that rendered her unable to fly back to Shadow. A rehab facility known as the Ojai Raptor Center took the famous baldie in, and they’ve been taking care of her the best they can.
Just a couple of days ago, the rehab facility provided an update on “Patient 26-519,” also known as Jackie, and said that she is in critical condition:
“We know many of you have been waiting for an update on Bald Eagle patient 26-519, and we’re grateful for your patience and support. While we’re still waiting on some important test results, we wanted to share what we know so far. Initial bloodwork indicates that the eagle is experiencing severe anemia and inflammation affecting the kidneys. We are still working to determine the underlying cause, and additional bloodwork and diagnostic test results are pending.
In other words, the Ojai Raptor Center sees signs of Jackie being able to pull through, but they don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. There’s no doubt that Jackie is one tough eagle, but she’s currently up against some very serious health issues.
The rehab facility feels strongly that, in due time, they’ll be to get the beloved eagle back to 100% and return her to the wild:
Get well soon, Jackie!
