CHICAGO — From highway light poles to cell towers, human-made structures are becoming part of the landscape that birds of prey use to hunt and nest across northeastern Illinois. Red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks can be seen perched above Chicago-area highways, watching for prey along medians and shoulders. A bald eagle was spotted recently on a utility pole along Half Day Road near Long Grove. Wildlife photographer Jeff Nelson has also documented owls, ospreys and peregrine falcons on poles around the region, including in Downers Grove, La Grange and Orland Park. The structures offer more than a place to rest. Cook County Forest Preserves wildlife biologist Chris Anchor said elevated poles give raptors a stable place to eat, where they face less risk from other predators. Birds can brace prey against a pole as they tear it apart. Lights may also draw insects, which can attract other animals that become prey. “There’s a whole food chain meeting up at the light pole,” Anchor said. The infrastructure is widespread. The Illinois Department of Transportation says there are about 30,000 light poles along its roads in the Chicago region, most commonly about 47.5 feet high. Illinois tollways have nearly 15,000 poles, and the state has at least 700 major cellular towers, according to a public database. Some towers have become nesting sites. Vic Berardi, a board member of the Hawk Migration Association, reported that confirmed active osprey nests on cell towers in Lake and McHenry counties grew from a handful in 2020 to at least 26 in 2025. Ospreys, once pushed close to extinction, have been returning to northeastern Illinois. That recovery brings added responsibility, Berardi said, because wildlife increasingly relies on human-altered places. Verizon said one Chicago-area site has an active nest believed to contain ospreys. The company said work on a tower with an active nest of the protected birds generally cannot proceed without federal authorization, which is rarely granted when eggs or young are present. Raptors’ use of roads and utility infrastructure carries substantial hazards. Birds can collide with vehicles or be injured or killed by contact with electrified equipment. Roadside hunting may also expose them to stress and disrupted nesting, while rodent poisons can sicken or kill predators that eat contaminated prey. Utility companies have installed line markers and other equipment intended to reduce collisions and electrocutions, which can also cause power outages. The birds’ presence does not necessarily mean the surrounding environment is healthy, said Julie Heath, director of Boise State University’s Raptor Research Center. Among other dangers, barn owls are known to be struck by vehicles, and research on American kestrels found higher stress hormone levels and more nest abandonment near roads. Raptor populations have rebounded in Illinois since the 1960s, after pesticides including DDT were phased out. But recent trends are mixed: Audubon Christmas Bird Count data show long-term increases in bald eagles and Cooper’s hawks, while counts for both have fallen in more recent years. Red-tailed hawk counts have also declined over the survey’s most recent decade. The birds’ adaptability is part of a complicated relationship with development, said Bryce Robinson of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: some species benefit from new opportunities, even as the built environment creates new threats.