Big Bear eaglets Sunny and Gizmo could soon fly from the nest on their own
BIG BEAR, Calif. -- It's been 10 weeks since the world was introduced to the Big Bear eaglets, now known as Gizmo and Sunny. It's a significant milestone because that's around the time eagles typically learn how to fly.
From what can be gleaned from the live nest camera, owned and operated by the non-profit Friends of Big Bear Valley, the siblings are getting close to taking their first flights.
Original live video courtesy of FOBBV.
"Yesterday, Sunny kind of almost got to the point of hovering, not quite. If they stay up off the ground for... a full second with their wings, that's official hovering. Sonny was up for maybe half a second," Sandy Steers, executive director of the non-profit, said Tuesday.
Steers says you can tell the difference between Sunny and Gizmo by looking at their tails. Sunny's is longer and has more white in it.
She added that they're already starting to develop their own personalities.
"Sunny is very industrious, wants to be the one that is flapping the hardest and moving. Very curious, kind of the first one.. Sunny is a bit older so it makes sense, but the one that's out there first and branching out onto the top of the rails and doing things ... but Gizmo is kind of mischievous and kind of gutsy, as well, so it's funny to watch them."
We've all heard stories about birds pushing their babies out of the nest. When asked whether their parents, beloved bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow, would perhaps try to force the issue, Steers responded by saying absolutely not. That's just an old myth.
"Jackie and Shadow don't have anything to do with it, they will do it themselves, and when they're ready. Watching them take off for the first time is both heart-wrenching and heart-filling because you see them go and at the same time, you're celebrating joyously that they had the courage to just take off."
Something like a parent watching their kids take the first step?
"Something like that, yes," Steers responded.
