Will County forest preserve welcomes 5 eaglets in April

Five eaglets recently hatched in two different Forest Preserve District of Will County nests this spring, a sign eagles are finding Will County a welcoming place to nest, according to the forest preserve.

“Three eaglets were spotted on April 4 in one nest and two hatchlings were confirmed in a second nest on April 14,” the forest preserve said in a news release.

Eagles and their nests are federally protected, and the forest preserve never discloses their location, the forest preserve said. But people can see a pair of eagle parents feeding their young on a video posted on the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s YouTube page.

Joel Craig, a volunteer eagle monitor for the forest preserve and member of the Will County Audubon Society, said in the release that 2023 is the second time in three years this particular nest has produced three eaglets.

“To see eagles rebound like they have in this area in the past 10 years has been pretty exciting,” Craig said. “To be threatened and endangered when I was a kid to what we’re seeing now, it’s really a population explosion in our area over the past few years.

Eagles typically reuse their nests and continue building on them until the nest grows so large it breaks or its weight breaks the tree., the forest preserve said. A typical eagle nest measures 4 feet to 5 feet wide and 2 feet to 4 feet deep, the forest preserve said.

However, “human interference” might also lead the birds to abandon their eggs and nests, at which point the eagles move to a new location and rebuild the nest, the forest preserve said.

“Seeing the next generation of bald eagles locally makes me extremely happy – and in a sense, relieved,” Craig in the release. “You never know how inclement weather might affect the nests from the time the eggs are laid through the first few weeks in the lives of the eaglets.”

Craig said the increasing number of immature bald eagles in the winter show these eagles are residents, not migrants, and that Will County is a welcoming place for them to nest.

It also shows “Will County has good, clean water and a healthy fish population to support them year-round,” the forest preserve said.

“The way resources are managed within the Forest Preserve District is having an overwhelmingly positive impact on the ecosystems in which these preserves exist,” he said. “This is not only good for the environment, but it’s also a very visible return on the investment of Will County taxpayers and the financial resources with which the Forest Preserve is entrusted.”

For more information on the Forest Preserve District of Will County, visit ReconnectWithNature.org.

To watch the video, visit youtube.com/@WillCoForests/shorts.