Eagle Prime

09/13/2026

Today I kept to work in my home office and my natural ways as far as sightings go. I stuck to my home base and only to the times I heard vocals or saw shadows go by or overhead. Shadow and Mama have been around multiple times today and I just left them at dusk together on one of the fave perches. I was able to get some nice shots of Mama in the beautiful late afternoon sunlight. Shadow did a fly by directly over me and I will share a picture in the morning. It's been warmer and lots of folks around the forests edge today preparing for the bike tour tomorrow. Thankful for another wonderful day of sightings here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂

09/13/2026

My only sighting today happened by chance and felt fortunate as my day was spent working and I had no time to spare for doing good observations. This sighting was late afternoon and this is the blue banded eagle V33 from Arizona. I spotted this eagle in the same place again at Stanfield Cutoff. This is a plump eagle with a rather distinct tail which it was fanning out and showing off here. My husband, Mike, spotted a juvenile at noon in Grout Bay feeding on the shoreline. We are pretty sure Shadow or Mama flew into the habitat not long ago but the smoke from the Cleveland Nat'l Forest has taken out our clear view. It's been a rather warm and hazy and gray day here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂

🙂 So many beautiful photos of these majestic birds of prey! Focus on positivity, nature and daily activities has been a breath of fresh air! - Carol Weaver 🙂

09/13/2026

Today was nice for a change as I got to spend most the time with humans. It was so nice to be with followers of this page that I had the pleasure of meeting or seeing again and showing the first release of postcards today. ALL today gave a raving review about the first postcards we have for sale. My normal observations have been temporarily suspended while I was taking time out to prepare postcards, greeting cards and more prints for sale. I will be working at Artisans Etc. gallery in the Village all day tomorrow starting at 10am. If you are in the area please stop in to say "hi" and to see all the beautiful artwork, photography, sculptures/carvings, jewelry, steampunk lamps, stained glass and more! I will be helping to sell others work and framing more of my prints. I do hope to do observations of eagles in the early am or the early pm. Today and yesterday a.m. Mama was on the fave family perch tree yet I took no pics due to working on projects. Two juveniles were flying over the far east end of Big Bear Lake this morning. I decided to show a picture tonight that was not quality enough for postcards yet shows the closeness that Mama and Papa shared. This was 11/25/17 and the pair were sticking together at this time. It's been a pleasant day here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂

We're reading all words and listening to each follower and your requests, suggestions and ideas. Thank you to each one of you who have posted comments, emailed, phoned, chatted and given inspiration about the eagles and support and kind words about our photography. We appreciate your patience as we try to produce thoughtful and quality items that you are requesting.

🙂 Trish, what a great idea for postcards! Or, even greeting cards, get well cards, etc. Your photos of our eagles inspire me every day. Thanks for all your work. 🧡💛🖤💚 - Sally Serrano 🙂

09/13/2026

The eagles in Big Bear have been doing some interesting patterns of routines and behavior the past month. We have visiting juveniles and some are well over 30 days here in Big Bear Lake. The juveniles, including one who is believed to be Stormy, seem to be sighted on the east and south more than over near the eagle habitat where the nesting takes place. This info is from other locals and visiting cabin owner reports and also from my own observations while going across town. The two eagles who are consistently staying tight to the habitat are Shadow and Jackie aka Mama. My eagle observation instincts still have me convinced that Mr. B aka Papa is over to the east and south as well. The reason being is the exact timing of Stormy and Papa departing the habitat. Also others reporting a mature eagle perched at eagle point with juveniles. Papa did make one casual appearance about this time last month near the nesting tree yet he never has come back to my knowledge. It does seem confusing at times watching eagles shifting around the lake and how content Mama seems with Shadow. I do believe in my recall from watching the past eagles that timing wise we should see Jackie and Mr B back at the nest by October at the latest, If not, it could be a surprise pairing - i think sometimes that Shadow wants the nest and a mate badly and that Jackie is saying "No, Shadow, this is my nest" - whatever is going on that's fine because nature will do what's meant to be regardless of biology, history, beliefs or theories. It's a mystery for sure now and lots is going on here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂

🙂 Sweet but Strong. He will have a good life in Big Bear or wherever he decides to nest😀 I know one thing he loves keeping house!! - Diane Russell 🙂

09/13/2026

09/12/2026

On 6/18 and 6/20/26 Owen and I encountered a visiting young bald eagle who is banded. Here's a photo of the banded visitor. This is the only eagle banded by Dr. Bloom in 2023. This is an exciting and important encounter as we are the first ones to report the band code to the USGS since it hatched and was banded in Lake Hemet in 2023. Lake Hemet is about 80 or so miles or south of Big Bear. This young eagle has probably traveled to further distances since it left Lake Hemet. Young eagles typically travel the first five years of their lives until they find a mate and establish a nesting territory. Big Bear is a stop over location for many young eagles. I submitted photos of the lavender band with the clearly readable code on the eagle and received a certificate promptly from the USGS for this encounter. It can take days and a lot of luck to get a complete band code. Fortunately the wind blew the feathers back on this eagle's leg enough so that the entire code was finally revealed. This eagle was banded when too young to fly on 4/28/23 and the s*x is unknown. The locals in Lake Hemet evidently named this eagle "Wonder". What is WONDERful is that this eagle looks to be healthy and was doing lots of normal eagle things. We observed it twice perching lakeside and once it appeared to dive low over the lake and went around a corner to a popular honey hole where we believe it most likely caught a fish. If you ever encounter a banded bird, please search "USGS banded bird report" and the current band reporting website should show up and you can report your sighting. Photos are not mandatory yet if you get any photos you may attach them to your report. There are valuable studies that the biologists do with data they receive from the banded bird encounters that help in protecting a variety of different species. We're heading out to enjoy birding on one of our first days of summer here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂

09/12/2026

One of the things i'm enjoying revisiting while going through photographs of the eagles is Stormy's progress as he came out of the habitat and began to fly over the lake. It was a grand sight to see. This is 5/21/18 and one of Stormy's first great flights we witnessed. Today I will resume more of a normal routine and the two eagles I have watched a bit the past two days are Papa and Shadow who have each perched nearby on and off at various times of day. It's getting cooler here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. The postcards are receiving a wonderful response and great comments on this limited edition. We will be available this weekend to visit with and/or purchase the collectible postcard series at Owen's Museum. Find us across from the Car Show at the Convention Center. We plan to be open from 9am to 5pm on Saturday. - Trish 🙂

09/12/2026

Shadow and Mama were perched together this morning as Stormy flew by to the west. An exciting observation and more pictures coming later this evening after we do an eagle tour with very important visitors. It's a super nice day in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂

09/11/2026

Today brought sightings of Mama aka Jackie and Shadow in their new routines. I observed them soaring over a ridge this morning from the habitat toward the dam. I spent most my day in the village and near BB City so only had morning and late observation time. When I returned to the west end of the lake early this evening, Mama and Shadow were both on their fave perch tree between the nest and shore. Due to poor quality pics from low light today, I decided to choose a nicer looking pic from earlier in the week! This picture is from two days ago as I found a picture of Shadow talking back to Mama with a raspy tone. There was one juvie soaring near Grout Bay that never landed near the north shore. This juvie was enjoying the winds as it soared up higher and higher floating in the currents. I could not begin to identify this juvie as it was too far away and high up. I have not spotted Papa aka Mr B nor Stormy in recent days nearby and tomorrow i'm hoping to make my way east to see if either of them are spending time in the shallow waters were the other juvies have been enjoying fishing. This was a cold and windy day here in the eagles neighborhood by Big Bear Lake. - Trish 🙂