Bald eagle hatchlings spotted in a Chicago park may be the city's first for more than a century

CHICAGO (AP) — Two bald eagles hatchlings have been 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 last week that bird-watchers observed nesting activity starting in February in Park 597 along the Calumet River on the city's 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.

Pat Pearson and her husband, Steve, discovered the first eaglet.

“We started looking around, and lo and behold, this little fuzzy head sticks up with a big beak and we were just ecstatic. Patty actually broke into tears. I started crying," Steve Pearson said. "It was really very touching, because we had this kind of instinct, I think, just the wonder and the awe of seeing these eagles right here in Chicago with a baby. It was really overwhelming.”

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. But Stephen Bell, who oversees Park 597, said his staff hasn't found any record of a successful eaglet hatching in Chicago for more than 100 years.

Park 597 was home to a city water treatment plant until the park district took over the property in 2019 and started restoring the natural habitat. Bell said soil improvements, upgraded vegetation and enhanced habitat for amphibians and reptiles have attracted muskrats, mice and deer, as well as eagles.

“Give Mother Nature a chance and you'd be surprised what she can do with just a little bit of help from like the park district and the city of Chicago," Pat Pearson said. “Neither one of the organizations could have done it themselves, but between the two of them, it's shocking what can happen to land in areas that you think are just absolutely unredeemable.”

Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press photographer Erin Hooley contributed.

A great egret is seen in Park No. 597 on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Supervisor Stephen Bell stands in Park No. 597, where a pair of bald eagles are raising two eaglets, on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A trail closed sign is posted near the site where a pair of bald eagles are raising two eaglets on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Birders Pat and Steve Pearson visit Park No. 597, where a pair of bald eagles are raising two eaglets, on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A bald eaglet raises its head from a nest in Park No. 597 on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency's current leader steps down at the end of the month.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration's tumultuous crackdown on immigration. ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information Wednesday.

Venturella left the Geo Group in early 2023 and has been working at ICE leading the division that oversees detention contracts, members of Congress wrote in a public letter earlier this year.

At the Geo Group, Venturella served in a number of posts, including executive vice president overseeing corporate development, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It said he also has worked for federal contractors, including one that specializes in security clearances and background checks.

Geo has benefited from President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push, garnering big contracts to open shuttered facilities. Among them was a $1 billion, 15-year deal for a detention center in New Jersey’s largest city.

Venturella will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. Under Lyons’ leadership, the agency used a massive infusion of cash to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the Republican administration.

Federal officials announced Lyons’ departure last month. He led ICE amid Trump’s efforts to reshape immigration.

Venturella's appointment comes as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin settles into his role atop the Cabinet agency overseeing ICE. Mullin has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president's priorities on mass deportations.

One contentious issue confronting DHS now is a plan for converting warehouses into immigrant detention. Conceived while Kristi Noem led the department, the effort has encountered multiple lawsuits and intense community blowback, including in Republican-led states.

The $38.3 billion plan would increase detention capacity to 92,000 beds and mean acquiring eight large-scale facilities, capable of housing 7,000 to 10,000 detainees each, and 16 smaller regional processing centers.

Those, and other sites, were supposed to be running by the end of November. But after Noem’s departure, DHS paused the purchase of new warehouses as it scrutinizes all contracts signed during her tenure.

Last month a judge extended a pause on transforming a massive Maryland warehouse into a processing facility for immigrants, and there are signs that federal officials are scaling back the plans.

FILE - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen in Park Ridge, Ill., Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)