Most eggs are cared for by the mother until they hatch, but sometimes, the father must step up to the plate and do the right thing. This was seen recently in Southern California after a bald eagle laid two eggs.
The bald eagle nest can be watched on YouTube as they have a live feed that is streaming at all times.
That bald eagle mother, Jackie, has been diligent about sitting on the eggs, but when she can’t care for them, her partner, Shadow, steps in.
It was documented by Friends of Big Bear Valley when they spoke on Facebook about how Shadow was comfortable sitting on the eggs. When there was only one egg, he was nervous and did a lot of walking around, but now he seems to have settled into caring for the eggs while Jackie is out and about.
They continued: “This afternoon around 12:30 pm, Jackie finally took a well-deserved break-she had been on the nest since 9:30 am yesterday–27 hours! During that time, she was riding out the long snowy storm, laying her 2nd egg in the middle of the storm, and making sure her 2 eggs stayed safe and warm through the long, snowy night. She must really trust Shadow because she almost never lets anyone else sit on the eggs during a storm. But today, she let him take over for almost an hour and a half.”
The couple also communicates regularly about the care of the eggs. Jackie will call out to Shadow and confirm that he is in the area before she goes on break. When Shadow comes to the nest, he will roll the eggs and sit on them to keep them warm.
Later, when Jackie returns from her break, Shadow even complains that he isn’t done with his turn yet. He tried to get Jackie to leave, but she was patient and continued to come to him until he left and allowed her to sit on the eggs.
You can see it for yourself in this video: