Famed Big Bear bald eagle Jackie dies after weeks of treatment

Jackie, the Big Bear bald eagle whose nest drew millions of viewers through the Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam, died after weeks of treatment at the Ojai Raptor Center. Friends of Big Bear Valley said the update came “with great sadness and heavy hearts,” ending a spell of intense concern over one of the world’s best-known wildlife livestream stars.

Jackie had been diagnosed with anemia and was under veterinary care in Ojai, California. On Aug. 9, USA Today reported that she was “currently unstable” and still “critically ill,” with a packed cell volume that had fallen to 13%, down from 17%. By Aug. 10, the Los Angeles Times reported that she had died after weeks of treatment. The nonprofit that runs the camera asked people to be kind to themselves, to others, to the Friends of Big Bear Valley team, and to the Ojai Raptor Center as the news spread.

Jackie and her partner, Shadow, became fixtures in the San Bernardino Mountains through a livestream that showed their nest year-round. The Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam turned a pair of bald eagles in Big Bear Valley into a global internet obsession, with viewers returning season after season to watch the birds incubate eggs, tend the nest and roam the surrounding forest. The BBC noted that the pair had been watched by millions over the years through the camera, which helped make Jackie a public symbol of raptor recovery and the emotional pull of streamed nature.

That visibility also intersected with a concrete land fight around the birds’ feeding grounds. On July 24, Friends of Big Bear Valley said it had secured the $10 million needed to save Moon Camp from development, preserving 63 acres of undisturbed forested open space and shoreline used by Jackie and Shadow as a foraging area. The group said its fundraising campaign began in mid-February to stop a planned luxury housing development with marina slips.

Friends of Big Bear Valley said it was founded in July 2001 and works to protect and preserve the habitat of Big Bear Valley through monitoring, education and advocacy. The organization says Big Bear Valley sits inside the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California, part of a landscape it describes as one of the nation’s most biologically diverse ecosystems. Jackie’s death leaves behind a devoted audience, but also a camera and a conservation network that showed how a single eagle could help carry a broader message about habitat, wildlife care and public stewardship.