The morning after the latest snow storm, Jackie landed in the nest to find it completely snow-filled. Shadow landed right behind her…and they both seemed astonished that their nest had completely disappeared…again. Jackie couldn’t find the nest bowl. Shadow could not find a single one of his sticks to rearrange. Nothing was visible. Nothing was movable. Now what?
They both wandered around the nest searching for what to do next. Jackie even laid down on top of the snow for a few seconds, like she was trying to see if the nest still fit. Shadow tried to lay down where Jackie had, but couldn’t actually get himself to touch his chest on that snow.
Later in the morning, Shadow started bringing in new sticks—first a small one, then a giant one. The small one easily found a home, but that big one was a tough cookie. It didn’t seem to fit anywhere in exactly the way Shadow liked, so he kept moving it to new spots.
By their evening visit, the nest was refilled with new snow. Jackie looked around in disbelief, then waded through the snow to adjust the new stick Shadow brought earlier. At least that was something she could do. Everything else was buried. When Shadow arrived, he helped her with that stick.
Jackie finally gave up trying to figure out what to do with the nest for the evening and went out to sit on the front porch. Shadow never gives up on things quite as quickly. He had to try once more to get that big stick in the right place. Then he joined Jackie on the front porch.
After he moved to his own spot on the left, he and Jackie had a long discussion about something…maybe about what they planned to do with all this snow. And, as is often the case, Jackie had to get the last word in.
All the sitting without being able to work, apparently gets a little stiffening—Jackie had to do a few of her yoga stretches to loosen up. She very regularly does these when she gets up from sitting on eggs or chicks.
Shadow followed Jackie back into the nest for one more look-about. When there still wasn’t anything that could be done with the nest or furniture, they headed off to their nearby roost tree. Shadow, who prefers to be positioned next to the trunk of the tree, worked his way around the branches until he could squeeze into his favorite spot for the night.
Note: While they are sitting side-by-side on the front porch (especially starting at minute 16:30 of the video), it is easy to see the distinct difference in their size—Jackie, on the right, is at least 1/3 bigger, heftier and taller than Shadow, on the left.
Jackie and Shadow are still very determined. Since the storm stopped, they have been bringing more sticks and more fluff to the nest, stacking them on top of the snow, defending the nest and moving forward with getting everything ready for whatever they have in mind. And, as always, we have no way of knowing what that might be. The continued cold and wintery feel may keep them in nesting mode. Another clutch of eggs is still possible, since it has happened in the past, but we do not know whether that might happen this time—we will watch and see what Jackie and Shadow have in store for us.

For anyone who may not have heard yet, we have some new items in the eagle merchandise shop on our website (https://www.friendsofbigbearvalley.or... )—warm beanies (!) for cold days, in any of 7 different colors, plus framed ‘moments in time’ photos of our eagles—choose from 4 separate inspirational photo messages.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing connection to Jackie and Shadow’s journey. Please enjoy these days of snowy weather, whether you are living in the middle of it or watching it on the live stream from afar. (Find the live stream at:    / @fobbvcam   )

Sandy

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