Speaker 1: Let's say good morning now to Sandy Steers with friends
Speaker 1: of Big Bear Valley. Sandy, I have to tell you,
Speaker 1: I'm so addicted to our eagles that I was over
Speaker 1: in Paris and checked on them several times while we
Speaker 1: were on vacation.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad to hear that they're doing great. Thank you.
Speaker 3: We love to hear that. So we've kind of hit
Speaker 3: a milestone.
Speaker 1: Sonny is officially ten weeks old, and Gizmo, who hatched
Speaker 1: like five days after Sunny, I think, is going to
Speaker 1: be ten weeks on.
Speaker 3: Saturday, right, Yes, Okay? And what does that mean?
Speaker 2: I mean that means that, well, it's between ten and
Speaker 2: fourteen weeks is the average for when bald eagles fled
Speaker 2: or fly from the nest for the first time?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: And how you're watching them? We're all watching. A lot
Speaker 1: of people are still watching them. I think there's I
Speaker 1: just looked at the numbers. There's about thirty thousand watching
Speaker 1: them right now.
Speaker 3: What are they.
Speaker 1: Doing and what are we looking for to show that
Speaker 1: they're kind of ready ready to take off?
Speaker 2: They've been doing lots of flapping and running around the
Speaker 2: nest to get their wings ready and know how to
Speaker 2: balance with their wings and to build the muscles to
Speaker 2: and now they're jumping up and down as they flap
Speaker 2: and even getting a little bit of air underneath their
Speaker 2: feet for a half a second. Maybe.
Speaker 1: Okay, so those are little practice jumps, But when they
Speaker 1: actually leave the nest for the first time, there's no practicing.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a do or die situation for them, right.
Speaker 2: They just they well, they wouldn't die, they would just
Speaker 2: glide if they couldn't fly. But they can when they're ready,
Speaker 2: when they feel like they can really do this and
Speaker 2: they have their confidence, say, jump off the limb and fly.
Speaker 3: Oh I can't wait to see this. I'm so excited
Speaker 3: for them. So then, Sandy, I'm kind of curious too.
Speaker 1: When they take off, do they come right back to
Speaker 1: the nest or do they stay away for a while
Speaker 1: or is it just sort of a wait and see thing.
Speaker 3: Do we really know?
Speaker 2: We don't really know. Mostly they don't come right back.
Speaker 2: They at least for a day or sometimes a few hours.
Speaker 2: They stay away from the nest. Sometimes they have to
Speaker 2: build their muscles enough to be able to fly high
Speaker 2: enough to get back up to the nest after they
Speaker 2: fly away, but they can come and all of Jacki
Speaker 2: and Shadow's chicks have at some point come back to
Speaker 2: the nest and visited several times and come back when
Speaker 2: they need food. Although Jackie and Shadow will be following
Speaker 2: them around bringing them food. Yeah, oh, okay, bringing them
Speaker 2: food and showing them how to hunt and things like that,
Speaker 2: or a fish. Really for a couple of months, that's
Speaker 2: so cool.
Speaker 1: So do they then the kids followed Jackie and Shadow
Speaker 1: around and watch them hunt, right?
Speaker 2: They? Yeah, they watch them. They'll learn how to fish,
Speaker 2: and Jackie and schatdo will bring them food and and
Speaker 2: they don't always know they'll follow, so Jackie and Schattle
Speaker 2: will find and follow them to make sure that they're
Speaker 2: getting plenty of food and learning what they need.
Speaker 1: Okay, And then you said that that Sonny and Gizmore
Speaker 1: are watching mom and dad. Do they watch them fly too?
Speaker 1: I haven't really paid attention to that, because you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're flying in and out all the time. Do
Speaker 1: they seem interested in what they're doing the parents are doing?
Speaker 2: They do that. They very often will watch them fly
Speaker 2: away and you can see them, you know, like tilt
Speaker 2: their heads and look around to see where they went. Yes,
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: Okay, and we anticipate that Sonny would be the first
Speaker 1: to go because she's she or he is older, right,
Speaker 1: Gizmo try to follow or do they really instinctually wait
Speaker 1: until they're ready.
Speaker 2: I don't know for sure. We haven't had two chicks
Speaker 2: that were ready to fledge at the same time before,
Speaker 2: so we'll have to wait and see what happens. Most
Speaker 2: likely Gizmo wouldn't go unless it felt really ready, but.
Speaker 3: We okay, and so we continue to see.
Speaker 1: We have the camera sitting above the nest in Big
Speaker 1: Bear Lake, and Sandy tell us how if people want
Speaker 1: to help keep that funded because this is a five
Speaker 1: O one c. If anyone wants to make a donation
Speaker 1: to help out the eagles or maybe buy an eagle calendar,
Speaker 1: where do they go to do that?
Speaker 2: To our website, Friends of Big Bear Valley dot org
Speaker 2: and it has all of that there.
Speaker 1: Okay, Sandy Steers, Friends of Big Bear Valley will be
Speaker 1: watching our eglitz.
Speaker 3: We're so excited they're gonna fly soon. Thanks so much, Sandy,