Two young internet-famous eaglets, Sunny and Gizmo, are about to leave the nest for the first time. The two birds of the beloved bald eagle couple, Jackie and Shadow, who nest in Southern California and welcomed the brood via live webcam in March of this year.

Bald Eagle Brood Preparing to Fledge

Jackie and Shadow's eaglets: Sunny and Gizmo
Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets: Sunny and Gizmo; Photo: Friends of Big Bear Valley

The story of this family brood began earlier this year, after three of the couple’s eggs failed to hatch in 2024. The three chicks hatched within a few days of each other in March, but one of the chicks passed away after a snowstorm hit the area on March 14th.

In April of this year, a group of students from a local elementary school voted on the names of the two surviving eaglets: Sunny and Gizmo.

Young eagles will fledge, or leave the nest and fly, when they’re able to flatten their wings and have feathers compatible with flight. This commonly occurs between birds aged between 10 and 14 weeks, and males typically take flight first.

According to Friends of Big Bear Valley, Fledge Watch for the baby birds officially began on May 13th. Sunny and Gizmo have reportedly been progressing toward this over the past few weeks, as they’re now able to feed themselves and spent their first night alone in the nest on May 8th.

They’ve been preparing their wings by flapping them to build up their strength, and Sunny has started leaping onto the edges of the nest. Though the Fledge Watch will be conducted in a similar way to the eaglet’s Pip Watch back in March, the fledge window is larger and could extend into mid-June.

“When they feel confident enough, you know, we don’t know whether they’ll go together or separately, but each one will just decide it’s ready,” FOBBV Executive Director Sandy Steers told LAist. “They may come back to the nest, you know, now and then, but they just fly for the first time and it’s beautiful.”

Once the two eaglets build up the courage to leave the nest, it may take them some time to build up their wing strength to fly back up to the 145-feet high nest – so we may not see them for a little while. But they’re expected to stay around Big Bear Lake for at least three months, where Jackie and Shadow will teach them to hunt and fish.

Though the eaglets look a lot alike and their sex hasn’t yet been determined, FOBBV has provided some helpful tips to try to tell the two eaglets apart. For example, Sunny reportedly has a longer tail, and the corner of Gizmo’s mouth is more orange than Sunny’s. Fans can follow the eagle family’s journey via a 24-hour livecam.