MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Fans are tuning in to a new season of so-called eagle TV - a 24/7 camera trained on the nest of two eagles in Southern California. Last year ended in heartbreak when the eagles' eggs did not hatch. Fans are hoping for a better outcome this time. From member station KVCR in San Bernardino, Madison Aument reports.
MADISON AUMENT, BYLINE: Snow crunches under Sandy Steers' feet as she hikes down to Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains, east of Los Angeles. Steers is the mastermind behind the live feed. She stops at a clearing and focuses her binoculars on a 145-foot pine tree where the camera is mounted.
SANDY STEERS: You can see it right above the horizon there.
AUMENT: The eagles who live there are known as Jackie and Shadow.
STEERS: With all the snow, you can't really see the eagles in there right now.
AUMENT: Steers thinks Jackie is the same chick she first noticed out here almost 15 years ago, though there's no way to know for sure.
STEERS: But I would stand out here, no matter what the weather, for a few hours a day just to watch this little chick on the nest, and it was beautiful to watch. And it got me hooked into all of this.
AUMENT: Jackie and Shadow debuted on screen in 2015. But viewership sky rocketed a few years later when tens of thousands of people logged on to see if Jackie's eggs would hatch - which they did. People were mesmerized by the eagles' antics. Here, the livestream shows Shadow flying in with a fish for Jackie.
(SOUNDBITE OF EAGLE CALLING OUT)
STEERS: It's almost like they know they're on a television show, and they're - you know, they're putting on special skits all day long.
AUMENT: Though the past two seasons, it's been tough for viewers, when no eaglets arrived.
STEERS: Sometimes nature's hard to watch.
AUMENT: Last year, Jackie left the eggs after there was no chance they would hatch, and ravens swooped in to eat them.
(SOUNDBITE OF RAVENS PECKING AT EGGS)
AUMENT: It's not clear why the eggs failed. Eagle experts say there could be a number of reasons. Maybe they weren't fertilized or got too cold. The only way to know is to test them, and so far they haven't. But in the past few days, Jackie laid three new eggs.
STEERS: It's another year of hope.
AUMENT: Steers says the trio arrived at the perfect time for people in Southern California, at least, who need something to look forward to after the wildfires.
STEERS: A lot of people have been tuning in because they want something pleasant, something that makes them feel good, that they can smile about, to watch compared to a lot of the other news and things going on. And we've had people say that it gives them hope that things can recover, and nature still continues on and keeps moving, no matter what kind of things are going on.
AUMENT: If the eggs are going to hatch, it'll be around early March.
For NPR News, I'm Madison Aument at Big Bear Lake.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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