Science & Nature
Meet Marian and Migizi, Chicago’s Historic Pair of Baby Bald Eagles Now Have Names
Migizi and Marian, hanging out near their nest on Chicago’s Southeast Side. (Courtesy of the Chicago Park District)
The bald eagle has long been an American symbol of strength, but it’s the raptor’s resilience that was celebrated Thursday when the Chicago Park District announced the names of a historic pair of eaglets born this spring on the city’s Southeast Side — the first to hatch in a Chicago park in 100 years.
Meet Migizi, which means bald eagle in the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) language, and Marian, for Marian Byrnes, the late environmental and civil rights activist whose namesake Chicago park is near the eaglets’ nest.
The names were chosen by public vote after the Park District received more than 3,000 entries in a naming contest.
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, general superintendent and CEO of the Park District, said it was a point of pride that the district’s stewardship of natural areas, particularly in an industrialized part of the city, had led to the first successful eagle’s nest in a century.
“Our conservation efforts are working,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
Long-time birders Steve and Pat Pearson, who live in Hyde Park, first spotted a pair of bald eagles building a nest in Park 597, tucked along the Calumet River, in January 2025.
The birds didn’t use the nest, but the Pearsons kept an eye out for activity in 2026. On April 3, they observed an eagle on the nest and began monitoring the site two or three times a week, Steve Pearson said.
A few weeks later their vigilance was rewarded when a little head poked out of the nest. A second eaglet was confirmed in early May, and the two youngsters are thriving.
“They just took their first flight earlier this week,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]
