Meet Spirit, the Big Bear bald eagle chick

In this screengrab from video, Spirit, the newly named eaglet who was hatched on March 3, stretches its wings while being fed in the Big Bear nest on Friday, April 8, 2022. (Video still courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley)

In this screengrab from video, Spirit, the newly named eaglet who was hatched on March 3, reaches for food while being fed in the Big Bear nest on Friday, April 8, 2022. (Video still courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley)

In this screengrab from video, Spirit, the newly named eaglet who was hatched on March 3, reaches for food while being fed in the nest near Big Bear Lake on Friday, April 8, 2022. (Video still courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley)

A baby bald eagle peaks out from under a parent in a nest above Big Bear Lake on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 in this video still. Friends of Big Bear Valley, which runs the web cam on the nest, is holding a naming contest for the eaglet. (Video still courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley)

A baby bald eagle in a nest above Big Bear Lake is fed by a parent on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 in this video still. Friends of Big Bear Valley, which runs the web cam on the nest, is holding a naming contest for the eaglet. (Video still courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley)

Bald eagle parents Jackie and Shadow welcomed a their first chick of 2022 into their nest on Thursday, March 3. The small ball of pink skin and black and white fluff is seen here under one of the adults about 25 minutes after hatching. (Video still courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley)

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Five weeks after hatching in a nest near Big Bear Lake, the eaglet whose arrival and early days have been livestreamed for the masses has a name — Spirit.

Friends of Big Bear Valley, a nonprofit that supervises a webcam trained on the nest Spirit shares with parents Jackie and Shadow, announced the chick’s name on its Facebook page earlier this week.

“With 2,641 entries and a total of 9,963 names submitted, our eaglet has its forever name!” the group posted. “Say hello to Spirit.”

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Local third-graders selected the name over runner-ups Li’l Dipper and Hunter.

Spirit hatched March 3 from one of two eggs produced by Jackie. The second egg did not hatch.

“Spirit is now 5 weeks old,” Friends of Big Bear Valley reported in a Facebook post, “legs are more stable, feathers growing longer and getting way closer to the edge of the nest!”

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