Big Bear Valley will light up the skies with Fourth of July fireworks on Saturday, and the timing puts Sandy and Luna in the middle of a risk they have never faced before. The fledglings left the nest for the first time less than a week ago, and now they are set to encounter the flashes and noise near Jackie and Shadow’s territory.
That makes this year different from the last two. Friends of Big Bear Valley runs a popular YouTube livestream of the nest, and the group’s viewers have watched Jackie and Shadow weather fireworks before. After the 2023 display, the pair were not seen or heard in the area for three days. After the 2022 show, they were gone for six days. This time, the concern is not only for the adults but for Sandy and Luna, who are still 100% dependent on their parents and are just beginning to move beyond the nest.
Jenny Voisard said the young eagles could try to flee the lights and sound at night, when they cannot see well, and that could lead to collision-related injuries. She said there is a road right there. Peter Sharpe said bald eagles are primarily scavengers during their first year, when the biggest dangers include being hit by a car while feeding on roadkill, flying into power lines and lead poisoning from eating something with bullet fragments. Two of the Big Bear nest’s previous eaglets, Stormy and Simba, were found dead in different parts of California about a year after fledging.
Visit Big Bear said the decision was not made lightly and called the show an important economic driver for community businesses, restaurants and workers. It also said the Fourth of July holiday is part of a broader effort to help the community recover heading into the summer season, especially after another low-to-no snow winter that hit neighbors, employees and small businesses. That leaves the same question hanging over Saturday’s show: whether the economic case will outweigh the chance that the eagles, especially two fledglings still learning their way, will bolt into the dark.
The pressure on Big Bear is real. More than 43,000 people signed a petition urging the community to move the fireworks and consider drone shows, and similar displays were canceled this year in Madison, Wisconsin and Long Island, New York after concerns about nearby bald eagle nests. For Sandy and Luna, though, the next test is simpler and sharper: a first fireworks night, coming almost immediately after their first night outside the nest.
