Two eaglets sit in their nest in Chicago's South Deering neighborhood on Thursday, May 7, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP)

CHICAGO — Two bald eagles hatchlings were recently spotted in a nest in a Chicago park in what city officials believe is the raptors’ first successful wild breeding in the Windy City in more than a century.

Chicago Park District officials announced that bird-watchers observed nesting activity starting in February in Park 597 along the Calumet River on the Southeast Side. The first eaglet was spotted in the nest on April 28 and a second was confirmed May 7.

Irene Tostado, a park district spokesperson, said the eaglets appear to be two to three weeks old.

Habitat degradation and insecticide contamination of food sources decimated the bald eagle population in the second half of the 20th century, but the bird has made a dramatic comeback over the last 40 years. The bald eagle — the official national bird of the United States — was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007.

They’re not an uncommon sight in the Chicago area. The park district said it counted a dozen bald eagles in the restored wetlands of Big Marsh Park in one day in 2018.