Jackie & Shadow

Jackie & Shadow is a love story about two bald eagles who reside near Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino County, California. Over the past 10 years, the wild eagles have developed a global fanbase, lost a dozen eggs and eaglets, raised three hatchlings, braved blizzards, and fought off countless enemies.

Jackie (c. 2012) and Shadow (c. 2014) are a wild female and male bald eagle couple who reside near Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino County, California.

As a blizzard rolled into Southern California's Big Bear Valley late last year Jackie the bald eagle was doing what any caring mother would: protecting her children at all costs.

Jackie sat atop her two eggs for hours at a time, keeping watch so long that the falling snow blanketed everything but the faintest outline of her beak and tail. The attentive mama would doze off, get up to shake off the snow, check on the eggs and then nestle back down on them. (Her record for a single sitting is 27 hours.) As Jackie faithfully cared for the eggs, her global fan base watched closely via a crystal-clear “nest-cam” webcam that has been documenting her daily life since 2016. Jackie, believed to be the first eaglet hatched in Big Bear Valley, came to the public's attention in 2017, when she and her mate took over an abandoned nest with two cameras installed beside it, while Shadow came to the public's attention one year later, when he replaced Jackie's mate at that nest. As of February 2024, Jackie and Shadow have laid 14+ eggs together, five of which have hatched, with two or three of the eaglets surviving into adulthood, all of which have been live-streamed by Friends of Big Bear Valley, installers of the nest-side cameras. The live-stream gained significant attention in 2023, when Jackie and Shadow attempted to hatch eggs despite multiple atmospheric rivers that brought ~45 inches of snow to the area.

Jackie & Shadow are partners for life who met more than seven years ago. They inherited a nest from Jackie's mother and have hatched two eaglets during their time together. Both Jackie & Shadow protect the nest and sit on the eggs. The papa eagle, Shadow, took turns protecting the nest, and dropped off plenty of fish and fluff. But even with the feather duo's nearly round-the-clock care, it started to not look good for the eggs in mid March when all three eggs were days beyond the normal incubation time. Many fans were heartbroken that it was a repeat of the previous year, when the couple were watching over two eggs, but after more than six weeks of waiting, the eggs never hatched. The eggs might not have been viable to begin with, and that could be what's happening now, but there's no way to know for sure.

They recently gave up on three eggs that they sat on for 4-6 weeks while thousands of people watched all over the world. The famous couple will take the summer off to grieve and rebuild their nest. Their next chance at parenthood will be in October when they lay their next clutch of eggs.

Project Website: https://www.ashleyyorkhere.com/projects/project-three-sng7y-jkgxx-kmlk5-rslaw-3c4fp-yrcz9-k62es

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE

Director | Ashley York

Producer | Farley Ziegler

Creative Producer | Susana Ruiz

Director of Photography for verite/interviews | Huy Truong

Producer/Composer | John Fee