Photo:San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center/AP.
Jackie the bald eagle at the San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center in San Dimas, California, on 18 July 2026.
Wild creatures do many of the same things people do — for instance, hunting down food, raising offspring. And they face daily challenges. Eagles, for example. Those who watch live streams of eagles often find themselves identifying or finding inspiration to persevere in tough times.
That’s why an eagle who lived in California lake was widely mourned when she died.
Dani Angulano writes at the Guardian, “The bald eagle Jackie made her home on the shore of southern California’s Big Bear Lake for most of her 14 years. But her death earlier this week drew international attention.
“The Los Angeles Times described her as ‘arguably the world’s most famous bald eagle.’ For years, millions of people tuned into a live stream of Jackie’s nest, watching her rear her eaglets, work out life with her mate, Shadow, and, perhaps most memorably, incubate her eggs while almost completely buried in snow.
“She developed a huge following of devoted fans who tuned in day after day. And she became a pioneer of non-profit fundraising, showing the conservation movement a new path to reaching the broader public and connecting people directly with nature.
“Following Jackie’s death [in August], Friends of Big Bear Valley, the environmental education non-profit that manages the live stream, received thousands of comments and emails from people sharing what the eagle meant to them, said Jenny Voisard, the group’s media manager. …
“Trisha Dale Green, a local wildlife photographer who has been observing eagles for nearly two decades, runs a Facebook page sharing her photos of the raptors to about 177,000 followers. … ‘These eagles have changed many people’s lives, including my own,’ she said.
“Gloria Ackman, a retired English teacher in southern Illinois, had occasionally tuned in for years. But after her husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February 2025, the couple began watching constantly. The cameras offered a glimpse of another world, she said.
“ ‘These magnificent eagles face so many challenges. Yet they stayed focused on each other, on their eaglets and on survival,’ Ackman said. ‘It was just so inspirational, their determination and resilience. I like to think that we embraced those qualities ourselves as we were dealing with the hardest thing we’ve ever had to. … It doesn’t matter what your politics are, what your religion is, what your country is – you can look at these eagles and just be awed by nature,’ she said. …
“Like P-22 with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, Jackie and Shadow inspired conservation efforts. Friends of Big Bear Valley raised $10m in funding this year, including a $5.5m donation from the OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, to permanently conserve land on the lake.
“The group fundraised for months to buy a 63-acre (25-hectare) plot of land, known as Moon Camp, that serves as a key ecological corridor and included the ‘last undisturbed shoreline’ on the lake. …
“After the death of Ackman’s husband in December, she kept tuning into the live stream. She celebrated when Jackie and Shadow laid a second clutch after the first was eaten by ravens earlier this year. And, in Jackie’s absence, she has continued to watch Shadow carry on without his mate.
“ ‘Shadow is standing tall there on the pine, looking out over Big Bear, and seeing his big, beautiful world, and that gives me that inspiration to carry on and still see that beauty,’ she said.”
More at the Guardian, here.
