Sandy Takes the Plunge: Big Bear's Famous Eaglet Makes an Accidental First Flight

It was not the dignified first flight anyone had planned. But on Sunday morning, high in a Jeffrey pine above Big Bear Lake, one of the internet's most-watched young eagles took to the air anyway.

A fall, then a flight

Just before 11:30 a.m. on June 28, Sandy — one of two eaglets raised this year by the famous bald eagle pair Jackie and Shadow — lost her footing near the nest and dropped through the lower branches, ABC7 reported. According to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the pair's round-the-clock nest camera, Sandy's sibling, Luna, had tried to hop over her and knocked her off balance.

For a few tense minutes it looked like a mishap. Then Sandy spread her wings and flew on her own power to a neighboring tree — an ungainly stumble-into-flight that longtime watchers affectionately call a "fludge," part fall, part fledge. At nearly 12 weeks old, just shy of the typical fledging age of about 13 weeks, her wings turned out to be ready even if the timing was not.

Mom is close

Jackie, the experienced mother of the nest, responded right away and has stayed near her daughter, Friends of Big Bear Valley said, reassuring anxious viewers that she would keep watch over Sandy and continue feeding her, as Yahoo News reported. Young eagles remain dependent on their parents for weeks after a first flight as they learn to land and, eventually, to hunt. As of Sunday, Sandy had not returned to the nest — not necessarily a worry, since fledglings often begin spending time away once they can fly.

Why this family matters

Jackie and Shadow have given their global audience plenty of heartbreak. Over the years the pair has lost eggs and chicks to brutal mountain winters, predators and failed hatches, and this year began with another blow when their first eggs were lost. That Sandy and Luna both hatched and reached the edge of independence makes the moment land all the harder for the people who watch.

Their nest, in the San Bernardino National Forest above the town of Big Bear Lake, has become something unusual: a shared window onto wild lives, drawing viewers from around the world to a single pine tree east of Los Angeles. On Sunday, that audience watched a young eagle fall — and then, wings wide, fly. For a family that has weathered so much loss, it was a good day.