Big Bear’s Beloved Bald Eagle Jackie Has Died

Jackie, the beloved bald eagle whose life and growing family in Southern California’s Big Bear Valley captivated millions of viewers around the world, has died. The female eagle, age 14, was one half of the famous Jackie-and-Shadow pair. She died August 10 after spending more than three weeks receiving intensive care at the Ojai Raptor Center.

According to the Center, Jackie was rescued in July by Big Bear’s Dana Point Park after a fight with two other eagles. Jackie was weak, vulnerable, underweight and unable to fly afterwards due to battling anemia.

For years outdoor enthusiasts and bird lovers followed along on Jackie’s journey on the Friends of Big Bear Valley’s 24-hour nest camera, which broadcast the bald eagle couple’s nest tucked high in the San Bernardino National Forest. The livestream turned Jackie and her longtime mate, Shadow, into unlikely internet celebrities, and gave viewers an intimate window into the triumphs and heartbreaks of life in the wild. The nest currently sits empty.

In 2023 and 2024, Jackie and Shadow endured nesting seasons without a successful hatch. Then, in March 2025, their fortunes dramatically changed when three eggs hatched, drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers to the nest cam. Jackie and Shadow diligently fed and sheltered the tiny eaglets, protecting them through the vulnerable weeks before they developed waterproof feathers. A severe mid-March snowstorm struck the area, and one of the three chicks did not survive. The two surviving chicks named Sunny and Gizmo successfully grew and fledged the nest.

Jackie’s appeal went far beyond the usual fascination of a wildlife cam. Viewers watched her sit patiently through snowstorms, carefully tend eggs, squabble and cooperate with Shadow, and fiercely defend their territory. In the process, the pair became ambassadors of sorts for a species whose recovery remains one of America’s great conservation success stories.

Her death leaves an uncertain future for Shadow, who remains in Big Bear Valley. Bald eagles can form new pair bonds after losing a mate, and Friends of Big Bear Valley will continue watching him and the nest. For Jackie’s legions of devoted viewers, though, the camera will undoubtedly feel different. What began as a way to observe a nest became something much bigger, a connection to the wild in a world that feels increasingly more detached by the day.