Family-Outdoors

Nearly absent from much of Michigan due to the effects of DDT, other pesticides and habitat loss, Michigan’s osprey population continues to rebound. In southern Michigan, monitoring efforts are in place to track the revitalization of this species.  This year, four osprey chicks from area nests were outfitted with “backpack” GPS telemetry units, funded by Huron Valley Audubon with donations from DTE Energy and a private donor. The GPS backpacks will help scientists track the young birds’ daily movements and seasonal migration patterns. The chicks were hatched on platforms at Kensington Metropark, Pointe Mouillee State Game Area and the Strong Unit of the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge and on a cellular tower in Milford. Crews from MD Tower Services, Newkirk-Electric and Earthcom Inc. climbed the towers in order to access the chicks for both banding and transmitter deployment. Brad Pieczarka also assisted with climbing.  “We are very excited to have this opportun...

As Michigan’s osprey population continues to rebound, the Department of Natural Resources is tracking the revitalization of this species in southern Michigan through monitoring efforts. This year, four osprey chicks from area nests were outfitted with “backpack” GPS/GSM telemetry units. Funded by donations from DTE Energy, Huron Valley Audubon and Michigan Osprey volunteers Martha Wolf and Barb Jensen, these units will help scientists track the young birds’ daily movements and seasonal migration patterns. The chicks were hatched in nests on platforms at Kensington Metropark in Milford and Sterling State Park in Monroe. Crews from Clearlink Wireless Solutions, Skyline Services LLC, Newkirk-Electric and Earthcom Inc. climbed the towers to access the chicks for banding and transmitter deployment. “We are very excited to have this opportunity to place GPS units on several ospreys this year,” said Julie Oakes, DNR wildlife biologist. “This will provide us with information on what migration ...

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...

The comeback of the Osprey in southern Michigan is a great conservation story, one the Department of Natural Resources would like to share with classrooms and organizations. Nearly absent from much of the state due to the effects of DDT and other pesticide use, the osprey population continues to rebound in southern Michigan. DNR osprey experts are available to speak classes or groups for approximately one hour, detailing the biology, life cycle, decline, reintroduction and research of the osprey in southern Michigan. This interactive program includes a PowerPoint presentation and/or a game that illustrates the concept of bioaccumulation of pesticides in top predators. The program is free of charge. A portion of the education program focuses on research involving ospreys. In southern Michigan, monitoring efforts are tracking the revitalization of this species. This year, several birds were banded, and three osprey chicks from area nests were outfitted with “backpack” satelli...

Few wildlife restoration programs have been more successful than Michigan’s effort to A pair of young ospreys -- with the male, on the left, sporting a GPS transmitter -- look out from their nest on Kent Lake at Kensington Metropark reintroduce osprey to southern Michigan. Starting in 1998, when some northern Michigan birds were moved to the Kensington Metropark in Livingston and Oakland counties, the DNR and a number of partner organizations have seen osprey numbers jump significantly across the southern third of the state. “Our goal was to have 30 breeding pairs in southern Michigan by 2020,” said DNR wildlife biologist Julie Oakes. “We were over 50 as of this year. We’ve definitely been very successful.” Now, the DNR and volunteers are taking the program a step further, installing GPS-tracking transmitters on young male ospreys to see where and how they migrate. “A lot of our people were interested in where they go and what route they take,” Oakes ...

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 ...