The two eggs tirelessly cared for by Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear Valley it seems are both inviable and not going to hatch (statement by U.S. Forest Service on the matter can be read here). It's sad to see, but I'll keep observing them, too, to see where things go from here. Jackie and Shadow are both still quite young eagle parents, being 7 and 5 years old, respectively - bald eagles reach adulthood at 4-5 years old, and this current nesting season is their second one together. I hope future seasons give them lots of eaglets to raise to fledging, and it will be interesting in its own right to see how they deal with the outcome of this season.
As another twist, it seems the season is indeed not over at the Southwest Florida nest, as the unlikeliest version of an unlikely scenario has happened after all - Harriet has just laid her third egg of the season, the first egg of her and M15's second clutch this season! Plenty of people had been wondering if that might happen after the pair sadly lost their only hatchling earlier this year, though keeping in mind second clutches have been observed very rarely, and even more rarely if the first one had already hatched. Then suddenly, egg.
Harriet at the nest just now, with a nice view of the egg for the camera before she shimmies back onto it again.
Who needs TV when you've got eagles.
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