My I.R.L. Adventures in the Land of the Eagle Cam

When Sam Anderson becomes captivated by a livestream of two bald eagles raising their chicks above California’s Big Bear Lake, he decides to take a trip to see them in person. But what begins as a nature excursion takes an unexpected turn as he encounters eccentric locals, bird enthusiasts, and a town consumed by its feathered celebrities. A fascinating cast of characters, feathered and otherwise.

In early April, there was an eruption of online celebration when the first tiny cracks, known as pips, ruptured the surface of the shells — and then more celebration, in the following days, as the eggs cracked open to spill out two gray-white puffballs. Viewership spiked as the babies squeaked and chirped and whistled at their harsh new world, as the parents fed them chunks of fish from the lake, as the puffballs’ bodies began to grow and stretch to gangly proportions, as their feathers turned from gray-white to dark gray to brown. On the livestream, viewers sent constant streams of little hearts floating up the screen.