Jackie is examined on 18 July 2026 at the San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center in San Dimas, California. Photograph: Los Angeles county parks San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center/AP View image in fullscreen Jackie is examined on 18 July 2026 at the San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center in San Dimas, California. Photograph: Los Angeles county parks San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center/AP California ‘Awed by nature’: fans mourn California’s beloved Jackie the bald eagle, whose legacy soars on Famous raptor helped livestream viewers in difficult moments, and inspired a conservation project at her lake home
Dani Anguiano Sun 16 Aug 2026 16.00 CEST Last modified on Sun 16 Aug 2026 19.48 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google The bald eagle Jackie made her home on the shore of southern California ’s Big Bear Lake for most of her 14 years. But her death earlier this week drew international attention.
The Los Angeles Times described her as “arguably the world’s most famous bald eagle”. For years, millions of people tuned into a live stream of Jackie’s nest, watching her rear her eaglets , work out life with her mate, Shadow, and, perhaps most memorably, incubate her eggs while almost completely buried in snow.
She developed a massive following of devoted fans who tuned in day after day. And she became a pioneer of non-profit fundraising, showing the conservation movement a new path to reaching the broader public and connecting people directly with nature.
Following Jackie’s death on Monday, Friends of Big Bear Valley, the environmental education non-profit that manages the live stream, received thousands of comments and emails from people sharing what the eagle meant to them, said Jenny Voisard, the group’s media manager.
View image in fullscreen Jackie the bald eagle at the San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center in San Dimas, California, on 18 July 2026. Photograph: Los Angeles county parks San Dimas Raptor Rescue Center/AP On social media fan pages, people swapped their favorite stories about Jackie and shared how watching her and Shadow helped them in their most difficult moments.
Trisha Dale Green, a local wildlife photographer who has been observing eagles for nearly two decades, runs a Facebook page sharing her photos of the raptors to about 177,000 followers. She closely documented Jackie, witnessing first-hand how unique she was, with her meticulous grooming.
Read more “These eagles have changed many people’s lives, including my own,” she said.
Gloria Ackman, a retired English teacher in southern Illinois, had occasionally tuned in for years. But after her husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February 2025, the couple began watching constantly. The cameras offered a glimpse of another world, she said.
“These magnificent eagles face so many challenges. Yet they stayed focused on each other, on their eaglets and on survival,” Ackman said. “It was just so inspirational, their determination and resilience. I like to think that we embraced those qualities ourselves as we were dealing with the hardest thing we’ve ever had to.”
Jackie brought people together, Ackman said, and that will be her legacy.
“It doesn’t matter what your politics are, what your religion is, what your country is – you can look at these eagles and just be awed by nature,” she said.
People connected with the animals, said Beth Pratt, the regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation and a conservation leader, as they did with the mountain lion P-22 and Flaco the…