Want to see the eagles? Try park, not Randall Road

It's pretty cool that two bald eagles have chosen to nest at Mooseheart, in a patch of woods at a lake near Randall Road.

But enthused bird-watchers are putting themselves in danger trying to get a glimpse of the nesting pair and their eaglets, according to the Kane County Sheriff's Department. And others are hopping a fence and trespassing on Mooseheart land.

"It's a neat thing, and we understand why people want to stop and look," said Lt. Patrick Gengler. But the site is on a curve, with a 50 mph speed limit, and drivers often go faster than that through the semirural stretch. People have parked on both sides of Randall, crossing the four-lane road on foot, Gengler said.

Kane County has posted more "no parking" signs in the area.

"We've had a few pretty bad ones (accidents) down in that area" in the past, Gengler said.

Deputies have begun patrolling the area more frequently. And Mooseheart has told the sheriff's office it will pursue criminal charges against trespassers, Gengler said.

The Kane County Audubon Society suggests people view the birds from Hawk's Bluff Park, about one-quarter northwest of the nesting site. The park is in the Tanglewood Hills subdivision west of Randall Road. To get to it, take Main Street in Batavia west to Deerpath Road; head south to Limestone Drive, then east to Bird Lane, then southeast to Twin Elms Lane, then south on Twin Elms to the park.

Besides possibly getting hit by a car, getting too close to the nest may disturb the birds and they may decide not to nest their next year, according to a story about the birds on Mooseheart's website. The eagles built the nest in 2009.

Bald eagles were an endangered species until 1995, and a threatened species until 2007. DDT, a pesticide widely used from the 1940s until the early 1970s, caused the birds to lay eggs with thinner shells, which were prone to breakage, or to become sterile. They also suffered from loss of habitat and from hunting. Some experts estimate the population dwindled from at least 300,000 in the United States in the late 1700s to fewer than 900 by the late 1960s.