CHICAGO — On a sunny afternoon last Saturday, a bald eagle sat perched and alert from inside her nest, staring out while her fuzzy offspring occasionally popped their heads out.
Not far away, a line of cars drove by, oblivious to the avian creatures making their home high in the treetops in a peaceful South Side cemetery that is surrounded by residential houses.
In another area of the city in a Southeast Side park, another eaglet was seen in a nest in late April, the Chicago Park District said Wednesday.
The chicks are believed to be the only eaglets born in the city in more than a century, if not longer, local birder groups and Chicago Park District Officials said. While there have been documented nests in the city in the past two decades, local birders say there is no documentation that any eggs successfully hatched.
“This has never happened before, or at least not in a very long time,” said Edward Warden, the president of the Chicago Ornithological Society, who visited the nest over the weekend. “It’s a crazy coincidence that both are happening at the same time.”
The eaglet in the South Side cemetery was confirmed by a Block Club editor.
A cemetery manager said the nest was new this year.
The Park District said nesting activity was also seen in February at Park 597, just south of at Park 597, which is south of Indian Ridge Marsh at 2690 E. 126th Place.
On April 28, “a chick finally reared its head, confirming this historic first,” the district said in a release announcing the milestone as well as a naming contest. The deadline is May 15 to submit a potential moniker.
“The eagles’ presence proves the Chicago Park District’s habitat restoration efforts are not only effective but making a profound impact on the city’s species diversity,” the Park District said.
The Park District said anyone wishing to see the eagles should stay on marked trails. Drones are prohibited from the park.
Eagles are protected by the federal EAGLES Act. Federal guidelines say people should stay at least 330 feet from nests during breeding season. Anyone who disturbs a nest or harms an eagle can be fined up to $5,000 and sentenced to a year in prison.
A bald eagle soars over Chicago’s South Side on May 4, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Eagle Sightings On The Rise
While the presence of the two nests might come as a surprise to some city dwellers, to anyone who is tracking the rebound of the nation’s most revered bird, as well as the general improvement in natural habitats across the city, it’s the logical extension of a decades-long trend.
That trend saw bald eagles not only come off the endangered species list, but now thrive in neighborhoods all over one of the nation’s largest urban areas.
In recent weeks and months, bald eagles have been spotted soaring through skies over the West Side, snatching a squirrel from a side street in Pullman, checking out South Pond near Lincoln Park Zoo, hunting in a Northwest Side park and perched on branches along a major West Side thoroughfare. In interviews, birders report seeing the easily recognizable birds in many Chicago parks, including Douglass, Humboldt, Garfield, Lincoln, Washington and Marquette, among others.
It’s not that the giant raptors — which can weigh up to 14 pounds with wingspans up to eight feet — haven’t been seen in Chicago previously. But experts and bird watchers say the sheer number of sightings across the city appears to be higher than ever — a far cry from a time when the eagle was pretty much absent from the area for more than a century.
“There are definitely more eagles around,” Warden said. “It’s just amazing and phenomenal to see. It’s truly all across the city.”
Warden noted that in years past sightings were more common in neighborhoods along the edges of the city or along waterways like the Chicago River and near Lake Calumet.
“It’s at the point that they are not just on the outskirts of the city, but they are moving into the center,” Warden said. “It’s gone from, ‘Where did that [eagle] come from?’ to ‘Hey, look, it’s the neighborhood eagle.’ It’s just an impressive thing to see anywhere in an urban area.”
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how many eagles are in or around the city because the birds are so common now that state agencies that track endangered species no longer account for eagles, which came off the list in 2007.
Federal wildlife officials have estimated in the past that more than 3,000 eagles spend winters in Illinois when they typically come from more northern areas of the continent in search of open water to fish. But birders say that number is now likely higher.
The Bird Conservation Network, which monitors the health of bird populations on public lands, doesn’t keep track of them.
A volunteer-driven bird count each year — including one taking place across the state Saturday for International Migratory Bird Day — has documented between 14-20 eagles in Cook County each year since 2022, data shows.
Eagle Nests In Chicago Far Rarer
Until this century, the last eagle nests recorded in Cook County were in 1896 and 1897, according to the Chicago Tribune. It’s unclear exactly where the nests were.
As far as nests, those are far rarer.
No nests were seen in the area until 2004, when a nest was found near Lake Calumet on the Far South Side, according to the U.S. Forest Service. In 2012, another nest was discovered near the Hegewisch Marsh, and its presence ended up torpedoing a plan to build a Chicago Police shooting range in the area.
A bald eagle sits atop a nest — with at least one eaglet — at a Chicago cemetery on May 4, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
However, no birds were ever documented hatching from either nest, Warden said.
In 2022, the U.S. Forest Service estimated there were 35 nesting pairs in the six-county Chicago area, but those were all outside city limits, where birders say one in the northwest suburbs can even be spotted from I-90.
Experts say there are a number of reasons why eagles are spending more time in the Second City. For one, Chicago offers what the birds need: open water, diverse food sources and large green spaces and corridors.
“The one positive of Chicago is there is a lot to eat here,” said Nikki Finch-Mason, the curator of birds at Lincoln Park Zoo, who said there have been three eagles spotted cruising around the zoo grounds and nearby lagoons in recent months.
Typically, between 60-90 percent of the bird’s diet is fish, with most of the rest constituting small mammals or birds. But they will change their diet as needed.
“They very much will adjust, if they are not finding their preferred foods,” Finch-Mason said. “They could go down to 50 percent fish, 50 percent small mammals. They are very opportunistic. They will take advantage of whatever is nearby.”
Henry Adams, wildlife management coordinator at the zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute, said eagles could be exploiting “different food resources in the city. … Maybe the food attracting them to the city is not necessarily the fish, maybe it’s access to dumpsters … or maybe they are taking a liking to Chicago rats.”
As evidence of the birds’ willingness to adapt, Adams pointed to a viral video of eagles flocking to a garbage dump in Alaska. The eagle in Pullman appeared to be snagging roadkill from the middle of the street. Luis Cabrales, an environmental educator at Big Marsh Park on the Far South Side, said he has often seen eagles flying above the landfills near the park.
Expert: No Need To Worry About Your Pets
One thing Mason-Finch doesn’t think you need to worry about: eagles eating your pets. Dogs and cats “are not their preferred food group,” she said
“Eagles have enough other species that are somewhat easier” to catch, she said. ” … They have to get pretty desperate to get to that point.”
A red winged blackbird flies around a bald eagle in Chicago’s South Side on May 4, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The variety of food sources, though, has contributed to that fact that more appear to be staying in the area year-round.
In the past, the birds mainly spent winters here when smaller bodies of water tended to freeze in areas farther north. As many as 17 eagles were seen on a single day recently at Big Marsh Park. But with a more welcoming year-round environment, the birds might stick around longer, Finch-Mason said.
“As we approach May and June, they should be committing to a nest location. If we still see pairs around until June and July, they are pretty committed,” she said.
More Birds Or More Birders?
While population estimates are hard to come by, one of the reasons for the rise in sightings could simply be due to the presence of more people looking for them.
“There is just a lot more people birding right now,” said Adams. “It’s possible we have more folks out and available to make these observations to bird in areas that are historically underreported.”
That’s born out on the eBird app, where thousands have said they’ve spotted eagles in the city. However, the counts are not an accurate indicator of population because multiple people will often record seeing the same bird, experts said.
One of those relatively newer birders is Sammy Cabindol, an organizer with Chicago BIPOC Birders, a group which aims to expand the number of people birding from groups who haven’t historically taken part in the activity.
In late April, Cabindol led a walk for beginning birders in Washington Park when an eagle flew overhead. The group was in awe, he said.
“They are a magnificent bird to watch. You see them in the sky with the neat white head and it’s that kind of moment. It’s a great feeling,” said Cabindol, who lived in Tri-Taylor until last August, when he moved to suburban Algonquin to be closer to the Cook County Forest Preserve’s Crab Tree Nature Center in Barrington where he is an ambassador animal specialist.
He added: “You don’t have to be a birder to appreciate these birds. They are the country’s national symbol. It’s just really cool to have the eagles around.”
That’s especially true for kids. Cabrales, who grew up on the Southeast Side, said he’s watched the birds as they locked talons and spiraled downward in what looks like a freefall — a behavior which can be a part of a mating ritual or a territorial fight. It’s a breathtaking thing to watch, he said.
Students who come to Big Marsh are often just surprised to see the birds.
“We say, ‘Hey, look a bald eagle.’ The reaction we get is like, ‘No way, out here?’”
That was Cathy Haibach’s thinking as she was walking in Douglass Park in late March when she spotted an eagle flying on the north end of the park just south of Roosevelt Road. She had seen them while visiting relatives in Alaska, but not in the middle of the city.
“It was pretty epic,” she said. ” … I just caught a flash of the eagle. I couldn’t believe it. I had never seen one there before.”
To Haibach, the presence of the birds here shows “the absolutely crucial importance of maintaining national spaces in our urban landscape. That is what Chicago is, ‘Urbs in Horto,’” she said, referring to the city motto, which is Latin for “City in a Garden.”
“That’s the whole principle that Chicago was built on.”
A bald eagle soars over Chicago’s South Side on May 4, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
An Eagle On Central Park Avenue
Paul Mulchrone, a Chicago Public Schools teacher from Beverly, spotted an eagle flying through Garfield Park on his way to the conservatory in mid-April. The bird landed on a tree branch along Central Park Avenue as traffic passed by.
“It was so exciting, I rolled down my window and shouted to some strangers walking on the sidewalk that there was an eagle that just landed in that tree. I think my shouting about birds to strangers embarrassed my kids, who were in the car with me,” Mulchrone said.
Mulchrone, who considers himself an amatuer birder and runs a Facebook page on nature in the 19th Ward, also referenced the city’s history when reflecting on the birds’ presence here.
“I am grateful for the parks and boulevards that were planned 150 years ago in Chicago that attract the wildlife. It is a nice retreat from the busy, dense city,” he said.
Still, the increase in eagles finding a home in the city is bittersweet for Finch-Mason.
She worries about the potential for the raptors to crash into tall buildings or eating rats that might have previously ingested poison.
“It makes me a little nervous,” she admits, saying that raising awareness and trying things like rat contraceptives instead of poison could ease her concerns.
Still, she sees the rise as the result of the improvements to natural areas in the city.
“The more we do to rebuild some of those green spaces, the more wildlife we are going to interface with,” she said.
On a larger scale, Matt Igleski, executive director of the Chicago Bird Alliance, points to the banning of DDT in 1972 as the impetus for the nationwide rebound in the species after the toxic pesticide was no longer found in its main food sources — and why Chicagoans are now seeing the fruits of that effort.
“It’s a great conservation success story,” he said.
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