ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Bald eagles have decided the Chicago area is a good place to raise their young rather than simply a stop-off on their way to more secluded areas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said more than a dozen bald eagle nests are in the seven-county metropolitan area, but only five are considered active for breeding this year, including one recently found in a wooded area along the Fox River in Lake County that contains a chocolate brown eaglet.

That discovery was made in April by Kim Compton, an education program coordinator for the McHenry County Conservation District who was leading a canoe trip to a heron rookery along the river.