✅ Pope Leo’s report card

Chicago is Also a Bird Town

The baby eagles born on the South Side are causing quite a stir — but they’re not the only birds making a buzz in Chicago. Keep your eyes peeled as we enter the thick of spring migration.

Millions of birds will pass through Chicago this season along the Mississippi Flyway, a major migration path.

Eagles visited by stork: After over a century without confirmed hatchings, bald eaglets were spotted in a cemetery and in Park 597, both on the South Side.

• Watch: A mother eagle protecting its nest.
• Got ideas? Submit eagle baby names before May 15.
• Another birth: A vulture chick just hatched at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Meanwhile up north: Endangered piping plovers have returned to Montrose and Waukegan Beaches. Now, the dating game begins. Montrose female Sea Rocket could shack up with her previous mate, Imani, or Pippin, the roving bachelor. Pippin flies between Montrose and Waukegan, where he could also ruffle feathers between female Blaze and male Pepper. (Team Pippin — I like a bad boy.)

• Last year: Three of Sky Rocket and Imani’s chicks hatched at Montrose. Only two survived.

Open mics: Researchers are installing a network of rooftop microphones across the city to better understand how migrating birds use Chicago’s airspace. The goal is to make the city safer for them.

• Why is Chicago so dangerous for birds? Chicago is the largest central U.S. city along the Mississippi Flyway, which exposes birds to disorienting light pollution, putting them at risk of crashing into buildings.
• You can help: Turn your lights off! Especially if you live along the lakefront.

Birds to look out for in May: Fourteen breeds of migrant songbirds should be visible in Chicago this month, likely near water and in woods. Local birders recommend McDonald Woods in Lake Villa and multiple areas within the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. To identify songbirds in particular, look for wing bars.

• Get out there: Join a birdwatching group.

Chicago birds year-round: The fun doesn’t end in May. Pigeons are around all year long, and while that may not sound exciting, here’s why we at City Cast Chicago are pigeon advocates.

🛑 And remember kids … Always beware of red-winged blackbirds!

Woodlawn Housing Ordinance Falls Short

In 2020, Chicago adopted an ordinance aimed at preserving affordable housing around the Obama Presidential Center. But records and interviews indicate the city has fallen short of its promises, with projects unfinished and funds unspent. The center opens June 19. [Illinois Answers Project]

How Bricks Tell the Story of Chicago

What sets Chicago brick apart? Why are bald eagles returning to Chicago? What would you wait in line for? City Cast Chicago contributors Leigh Giangreco and Al Scorch join today to answer that and more. Also, we hear a poem from YOU! [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Pope Leo One Year in

It’s been one year since Dolton-born Cardinal Robert Prevost became the first American pope. In that time, he emphasized pro-peace and immigration stances, maintained White Sox pride, and (perhaps unsurprisingly) beefed with President Donald Trump. [Sun-Times]

• Also: A first look inside the Pope’s childhood home. [Tribune 🔒]

Remembering the Racetrack

As the Bears waffle over moving to ol’ Arlington Park, author Edward McClelland remembers years spent at the racetrack. “Horseplayers will bet $200 on a race but won’t spend $20 on a pair of pants,” he writes, recalling a whole cast of eccentric gamblers: Bob the Brain, David the Owl, the Professor, Creighton R. Schoenfeldt … (Yes, Creighton R. Schoenfeldt was a nickname.) [Chicago magazine]