Hopeful Viewers Of Eagle Nest's Hatch Cam Get Bittersweet Update

Bald eagles Jackie and Shadow have been tending to three eggs in California for weeks, with tens of thousands hoping to see the chicks hatch.

The bald eagle eggs at the center of a popular livestream may not hatch after all, but the two eagles who call the nest home are as devoted to each other as ever.

Tens of thousands of viewers have tuned in to watch eagle mates Jackie and Shadow tend to their nest atop a pine tree overlooking Big Bear Lake in Southern California.

Jackie laid three eggs back in January. Many were hopeful that they’d be able to see the chicks hatch, which was expected to happen in early March.

But as of Saturday, the eggs were still intact. Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that operates the nest camera, wrote in an update Monday that at this point, it’s “probably unlikely for them to hatch.”

“I feel very connected to Jackie and Shadow, so it’s very sad for me,” Sandy Steer, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s executive director, told the Los Angeles Times this week. “Makes my heart hurt.”