It was a day of celebration (and perhaps some tears of joy) for fans of the Big Bear, California, eaglets as Sunny took flight and left the family nest for the first time.
For the last couple of months, animal lovers have become enamored and fascinated with wild female and male bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow’s journey. From the laying of their eggs to the hatching of three eaglets, to now one of their offspring flying off to explore its surroundings.
Three eaglets hatched in early March, with one dying mid-month. People have been able to watch the two surviving eaglets, named Sunny and Gizmo, every day on the Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) 24-hour livestream.
One of the eaglets, Sunny, had a major milestone moment on Monday, when she flapped her wings and flew from the nest.
“At 10:46 am this morning, Sunny flew from the upper Y-branch right out into the world! She put up her wings to catch the wind and then jumped up and let those beautiful wings carry her,” Friends of Big Bear Valley wrote on its website and Instagram page. “She circled back around toward Shadow and Jackie’s favorite roost tree…Gizmo watched the whole thing from right beside Sunny.”
The video shows Sunny making the big leap, with the camera angle changing and finding the eaglet perched near the top of a roost tree.
The organization noted that Sunny “may return to the nest…Jackie and Shadow’s previous eaglets have all done that. It is all up to her at this point.”
By 2:45 p.m. PT, Jackie and Shadow were seen in the nest with Gizmo eating some food they caught.
At publishing time, Sunny had yet to return to the nest.
News of Sunny’s first flight comes days after FOBBV determined that the two eaglets were females.
During the last few days, Sunny had been venturing out further onto the branches of the tree where the nest is, at times hovering just above. On Saturday, the cameras captured the brave eaglet hovering for about 2.5 seconds.
