Kaydee left Big Bear’s Lookout Snag two seconds after Shadow on September 9, 2026. The next morning, the order reversed: Kaydee flew off first, while Shadow stayed for almost 44 more minutes.

By September 11, the banded eagle now known as Kaydee had shared that perch with Shadow on three successive mornings. The visits had something in common, but each unfolded differently. Together, they offer a closer look at how the two birds are spending the weeks before another nesting season.

The observer record from Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit operating the cameras, documents the sequence. All times below are local to Big Bear, California.

On September 9, both eagles were recorded on Lookout Snag around 6:10 a.m. Shadow departed at 6:39:16, with Kaydee leaving at 6:39:18. Their documented time together lasted about half an hour.

On September 10, Shadow arrived at 6:08:30 a.m. Kaydee landed two seconds later. They shared the perch for a little over 17 minutes before Kaydee left at 6:25:44. Shadow remained until 7:09:27, spending considerably longer there alone than alongside the younger bird.

Friday’s visit was shorter. On September 11, Shadow reached the snag at 6:09:50 a.m., again followed by Kaydee two seconds later. After just under eight minutes together, Shadow took off. Kaydee left a second afterward.

Those closely timed departures are striking, but September 10 prevents them from becoming a rule. Kaydee doesn’t always leave after Shadow, and Shadow doesn’t always leave when Kaydee does. Nor do shorter visits necessarily signal a change in their relationship. The log measures time on a perch, not attachment.

Lookout Snag is only one stop in their recorded movements. Earlier on September 11, both birds were in the roost tree. Kaydee then visited the nest’s back porch before the shared snag visit. That afternoon, Shadow was recorded at another named perch, Twin Pines.

The camera labels matter when following these movements. Cam 1 covers the nest, while Cam 2 provides the wider habitat view. The observer entries distinguish a nest visit, a perch sighting and a flight across the picture. Seeing a bird in the habitat doesn’t necessarily mean it has entered the nest.

A gap in those entries also needs care. Kaydee was identified at Lookout Snag on September 6. The September 7 and 8 summaries contain no named Kaydee sighting, although an unidentified bald eagle appears in the September 8 record. That bird can’t simply be assigned Kaydee’s identity.

The gap doesn’t establish that Kaydee left the valley. Friends of Big Bear Valley has also cautioned that the cameras can’t tell whether the eagles stay together once they’re beyond view. A departure gives observers a time, but not a destination.

Kaydee’s history before Big Bear is more firmly documented. Orange County Water District identifies KD1 as an eagle that hatched in the Prado Basin in 2022. The district’s background video connects the bird now seen near Shadow with that earlier life in Southern California.

Friends of Big Bear Valley gives the hatch month as March, making Kaydee approximately 4½ years old this September. Its first identified habitat-camera sighting was August 6, 2026. The first recorded nest visit followed on August 10, so the September appearances continue a presence documented for more than a month.

The band code KD1 preceded the name Kaydee, which the nonprofit announced on August 19. Naming the visitor didn’t establish a permanent home: the organization explicitly said the name would apply whether the eagle stayed in the area or moved on.

Kaydee’s sex remains unconfirmed. No DNA testing was performed during banding. The organization has noted Kaydee’s larger size beside Shadow and leans toward female, but it hasn’t presented that comparison as a definitive result. The recorded identity and hatch history are clearer than the answer to that question.

The next nesting season remains an open question

September falls outside Big Bear’s nesting period. In its official seasonal updates, Friends of Big Bear Valley explains that eagles can be more sociable and less territorial during this part of the year, sometimes gathering where food is plentiful.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes a similarly flexible social life across the species. Bald eagles may spend time alone, yet also assemble at feeding places and communal roosts. Sharing a tree can therefore be meaningful to document without being enough to identify a breeding partnership.

A high perch has practical value, too. Cornell notes that bald eagles favor tall trees offering an expansive view, and fish are central to their diet. A tree overlooking suitable habitat can serve an eagle’s everyday needs whether another bird joins it or not.

Breeding also involves more than occupying a useful tree. Cornell describes both sexes bringing nest material, with sticks forming the structure and softer material filling and lining it. Those activities give observers a different kind of behavior to follow than two eagles simply resting on nearby branches.

The local history provides another reason not to treat September 9 as the beginning of their association. On August 19, Friends of Big Bear Valley described Shadow and Kaydee spending about three hours on separate branches at Twin Pines. The September mornings add repeated observations in another familiar location.

There’s a distinction between that growing record and a prediction. Neither shared perching nor close departure times settle whether Kaydee will become Shadow’s nesting partner. The observations support continued contact; what that contact develops into is still unresolved.

That uncertainty follows Jackie’s death in August. The nonprofit says nesting behavior here generally starts building in October or November and becomes more active in December. It has also emphasized that, following Jackie’s loss, it doesn’t know what to expect from the coming season.

The latest morning covered by these observations brought another sighting together: at 5:48 a.m. on September 12, the recap placed both eagles in the roost tree. For now, the next question is whether their recurring shared perches will be followed by shared nesting activity as autumn progresses.

The habitat camera below is live, not a replay of the September sightings.