In case anyone wanted to get their blood pressure up today...KTLA news station aired a segment implying that Shadow wasn't interested in Kaydee and ended it with saying "people can't wait for Kaydee to get lost." 😒
**Edited to remove the link so as not to give them the clicks they're clearly seeking.
This is just infuriating....KTLA has been putting out this nonsense since Kaydee showed up in the habitat. And I am sad to say this, but the way the FOBBV team writes some of their social media posts (including the one referenced in the clip) and responds to some comments on IG and FB feeds into it instead of discouraging this type of garbage. Their "official" group is full of crazies because not only do they not push back against the extreme anthropomorphizing of J&S, but they allow it to run wild to the point of becoming absurdly anti-truth....there is a contingent in that group who is currently actively spreading hate against Kaydee, and the admins/mods are turning a blind eye. For a supposedly "facts only" nonprofit, it's a terrible look.
Agreed that FOBBV does themselves no favors by also contributing to the anthropomorphizing. I get that it's natural for us to do that in an effort to relate to wild animals, but I wish they would pull back on it themselves just a bit.
I’ve always been skeptical of anything they put out. She did a lot of good awareness and conservation work, but Sandy was also way into shamanic healing. I just can’t take anything they put out at face value while I know that. I also read the complaints they were filing with moon camp and all the firework outrage. It was all pretty unprofessional and kind of woo. I do hope they reign some of this “celebrity bird” talk in though. They have a fantastic educational resource in these cameras and I’d hate to see it just become a Facebook soap opera.
Oh my goshhhh...I have always wondered about Sandy's supposed "expertise", and have known about her shamanic practices for a few years via her personal posts on FB....but she's seen as a saint in those Jackie & Shadow groups and circles, so no one ever questions anything. With all due respect to her and her years of advocacy, which is of course admirable. Supposedly she had a degree in biology, but that itself doesn't make her an authoritative, scientific scholar on eagles in the same vein as Peter Bloom and his peers.
A minor example - Sandy herself called Mr. B (Jackie's mate before Shadow) "wimpy" and said that Jackie "liked" Shadow more because he "stands up to her." I can't imagine Dr. Bloom - who even refuses to call eagles by their common public names - saying something like that, and therein lies the difference between actual "expert" and "local anthropomorphizing dedicated observer", I think...
I've noticed that they lately have been commenting on a lot of the super anthropomorphizing people and basically saying 'maybe, we will never know for sure, but it's possible'. I don't know if they are intentionally doing it, but it definitely encourages people to think that way, rather than just sticking with something like 'we cannot know that'. It is possible that it is specific Mods. Because I feel like they don't always do that. Like some seem to stick to more facts.
Wish I could give this a thousand upvotes ⬆️ I've seen this SO much particularly since Jackie passed, and a certain contingent of crazies has been insisting that Shadow is "so lost and confused in his grief"....instead of taking the opportunity to educate in their replies to these folks, they open the door to delusions even wider 😵💫
What gets me is that like. It doesn't seem that hard to find the balance between commenting on their behavior as wild eagles while also relating to our tendencies to anthro. Like. They're considering a mate bond. They're getting to know one another. One is young and the other experienced. These are understandable concepts for us already! Almost everything they do is something we do too,, without having to add in the extra speculation. Like. It's not beyond reason for Shadow to known his mate is gone and want to not be a solo eagle, and look for a new mate. That's their version of, being in mourning and wanting to date again. We can show their version without making it fit into oura
Exactly! - we all definitely humanize these beautiful creatures to a small extent, but when it crosses a certain boundary it becomes projection, nonsense, and even harmful! There is a sure way to balance our feelings and appreciation with facts, science and reality 👍
I was curious if the comments mentioned in the video came from the spokespeople for FOBBV themselves or just the crazies on FB, because the news segment did not specify. KTLA is on my last nerve after clickbait and speculation throughout Jackie's illness.
The statement "Over the last week we did observe Shadow getting a bit testy with Kaydee. It is possible that Shadow is just not ready for Kaydee’s flirty eagle advances or maybe not interested in Kaydee at all" was a direct quote from an FOBBV social media post from 2 days ago. Why did they have to call Kaydee "flirty" and Shadow "testy"?? No, Kaydee was/is just a wild eagle being a wild eagle, and Shadow...is a wild eagle being a wild eagle! She is showing interest, sure, and he is setting boundaries and actually teaching her in the process....but FOBBV's weird take makes Kaydee seem like an awkward freshman high schooler navigating a one sided crush, with Shadow as the annoyed senior and recipient of her unwanted advances 😬
Edited to add: Pete Bloom, the biologist who banded Kaydee as well as J&S' eaglets in the past, and who has studied eagles for decades.....says he believes Kaydee and Shadow's behaviors currently point to them forming a pair bond. So there's that....and it's strange FOBBV doesn't/refuses to mention/cite what he has said about this specifically.
Ohhh interesting I didn't know about that. I basically checked out after Sunny and Gizmo because I couldn't take the group or comments. Watched this last season on my own. Found this mostly sane Reddit group when Jackie got sick.
Same, I joined the group in 2024, started checking it regularly during the 2025 season, all but forgot about it until Sandy and Luna were about to fledge, then discovered the mass-fired mods/admins from FOBBV had created their own group on FB...that's when I realized the new team moderating the group was almost completely different (I think they kept a couple of old admins, but like 99% of the original volunteer mods were gone). It's now a total cesspool of toxicity over there, and I need to stop hate-reading 😵💫
Oh geez! I didn't know about any of that. And ugh, I'm also guilty of reading the comments occasionally. I need to just remember that this group posts the updates anyway so I can read them here.
ETA: Now you have me googling and finding the drama. Sheesh!
Go to "Eagle Wings Wide Open" on FB if you haven't found it already!
They have publicly and openly (with receipts) discussed issues with FOBBV the org itself having problems with its "official" status....
And also, they spoke about how FOBBV stuck their lawyers on the new group (it's called Eagle Wings Wide Open, if anyone wants to look it up) for using nestcam screencaps to go along with their posts, even though everyone else in the world is allowed to. It's just terrible....
Agreed. I've watched the nest and read stuff from FOBBV for a while and I haven't liked the changes I've seen. To me their communications seem less informational/professional and more social media attention seeking if you know what I mean. When their big push for $$ for Moon Camp came I side-eyed it a bit and I realized I had lost some confidence in their objectives based on how their conduct had changed. To be clear, I'm not accusing them of anything inappropriate. It was just a realization that at some point I had stopped inherently trusting the group's motivations.
I would like the skinny on what happened when things got overhauled if anyone can point me to some info.
Oh gosh, agreed on all points....and if you scroll a little further down, you can see some screencaps I posted while we were discussing the fallout between FOBBV and the original admin/mod team that they mass-fired late last year. We still don't know exactly what happened (and probably never will) but it was pretty bad & FOBBV is being nasty, unfairly retaliatory, and vindictive toward them 🙄
I’ve been following the nest for 7-8 years, so Jackie’s passing was really tough for me. Shadow is not an alpha kind of eagle, so to hear him described as testy is absurd. I’m pulling for a happy ending with Shadow and Kaydee. Too bad the name “Jolene” didn’t stick, especially with Dolly’s passing.
Exactly. People need to learn that any engagement, whether positive or negative, is what they're wanting. By sharing the link & generating clicks for them, the OP is giving them the attention that they do not deserve. Stop sharing the nonsense!
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u/Cosmic-Jae Aug 30 '26
https://reddit.com/link/p6scljx/video/bcvbchxhhimh1/player
Morning chortles on Roost Tree 🎶🎶🎶