Bald eagles making comeback near Chicago

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Bald eagles have decided the Chicago area is a good place to raise their young rather than simply a stop-off on their way to more secluded areas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said more than a dozen bald eagle nests are in the seven-county metropolitan area, but only five are considered active for breeding this year, including one recently found in a wooded area along the Fox River in Lake County that contains a chocolate brown eaglet.

That discovery was made in April by Kim Compton, an education program coordinator for the McHenry County Conservation District who was leading a canoe trip to a heron rookery along the river.

“It’s a symbol of success that we have [bald] eagles nesting on the Fox River. Who would have thought?” Compton said.

Illinois Natural History Survey ornithologist Steve Bailey said bald eagles have become fairly common in the rest of Illinois but weren’t breeding in the Chicago area until a few years ago, so Compton’s discovery is “a fairly big deal.”

The nest Compton found, built in a dead tree 70 feet above the Fox River, is the second one discovered in Lake County.

Experts aren’t sure why the birds are building nests near Chicago but suspect it’s a combination of sheltered areas along water, a good food supply and an ample number of sturdy trees to hold nests that can be 10-feet across and weigh half a ton.

Still, they are far from plentiful in the Chicago area.

“It’s something to note and be excited about,” said Allison Frederick, environmental communications specialist with the Lake County Forest Preserve District. “Put it on the species list and keep an eye out for more.”