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