BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Late season rain and snow were apparently too much for a bald eagle chick in a Southern California forest nest watched by a popular internet camera .
The death of the chick named Cookie was announced Monday by the environmental advocacy group Friends of Big Bear Valley and the San Bernardino National Forest.
It is with great sadness to announce that one of the bald eagle chicks in the Big Bear nest passed away this morning around 8 am. Although we will not know for sure, hypothermia was most likely the cause. pic.twitter.com/8GSA5qtb4i
— San Bernardino National Forest (@SanBernardinoNF) May 27, 2019
The U.S. Forest Service tweeted that a weekend storm with rain followed by snow brought overnight temperatures down to 26 degrees (-3.33 Celsius) and hypothermia was likely the cause of death.
Cookie and a sibling, Simba, hatched last month in a nest near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains and were named by schoolchildren.
The Forest Service says bald eagles have a 50% mortality rate in the first year of life.
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