Family-Outdoors

Ospreys, large fish-eating raptors,  are experts at spotting fish in water from high above. They fold their wings back, thrust their large talons forward and smash into the water, snatch a fish, then take flight again.  Larger than most hawks, but smaller than eagles, they have made a comeback in southern Michigan over the past 20 years. Ospreys were initially listed as a threatened species in Michigan, but were removed from the list in 2009. One important reason osprey were delisted is because of  the 10-year-long Osprey Reintroduction Project that took place from 1990 to 2000. This project involved moving 50 chicks from the northern parts of the state to areas in southern Michigan, and there are now more than 30 known nests in southern Lower Peninsula plus dozens of nests in the northern Lower and Upper peninsulas .  The species is known to be very faithful to historical nesting grounds, which made the osprey's return to the southern Lower Peninsula progress...

An osprey keeps a close eye as Kevin, staff member from Clearlink Wireless Solutions, removes chicks from the nest to be banded. Nearly wiped out in southern Michigan at one time, osprey ( Pandion haliaetus ) are now recovering within the state due in large part to the concentrated efforts of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Huron Clinton Metroparks, Detroit Zoological Society (DZS), DTE Energy and more than 100 volunteers. The use of DDT and other pesticides, which caused the thinning of the birds' eggshells, caused osprey populations to decline. Once commonplace in the Great Lakes region, osprey became mostly a bird of remote northern lakes and ponds. After the use of DDT was banned and the osprey population became more productive, state wildlife officials seized the opportunity to re-establish ospreys. In 1998, the DNR initiated a program of relocating or “hacking” the raptors to southern Michigan. The program, which was supported by donations ...

Image via Wikipedia Eagle watching kicks off Jan. 13-14 in Prairie du Sac MADISON – Sauk City and Prairie du Sac on the Wisconsin River will hold the 25th annual Bald Eagle Watching Days on Jan. 13-14 in partnership with event sponsor, the Alliant Energy Foundation. Cassville will hold its 18th annual Bald Eagle Days on Jan. 28-29 and Prairie du Chien will hold Bald Eagle Appreciation Day on Feb. 25. Each winter, hundreds of bald eagles congregate along areas of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers where they feed on fish in the open water below dams. Wildlife officials say this is the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in the lower 48 states, offering some of the best eagle viewing in the nation. Volunteer spotters from the Ferry Bluff Eagle Council  www.ferrybluffeaglecouncil.org   [exit DNR]  counted 176 eagles on Dec. 18, 2011. In 2010, DNR biologists documented 1,247 known eagle nest territories. Data from the 2011 breeding season are still...