Ospreys nesting high up in Michigan cell tower are sign of species’ comeback

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI — When Penny LeBlanc first observed the massive stick nest excessive atop a cell tower alongside Bemis Highway close to U.S. 23 and obtained a glimpse of one of many birds, she thought perhaps it was a bald eagle.

“I used to be like, properly, that could be a giant nest, and we obtained the binoculars out,” mentioned the resident of Washtenaw County’s York Township, simply south of Ann Arbor. “And we noticed one in every of them sitting on the facet and I used to be like, properly, it type of had a white head.”

Upon nearer inspection, after seeing three raptors from the nest flying round, she realized they had been seemingly ospreys, a big fish-hunting hawk that’s been a species of particular concern in Michigan however has been making a comeback.

“They stayed fairly near the nest,” LeBlanc mentioned, guessing they had been younger.

She’s by no means observed a nest within the tower earlier than, so it was a shock.

“It’s simply loopy. That nest is so big,” she mentioned. “Just like the sticks are unbelievably huge. You already know, like how did they even get these up there? That’s what’s loopy.”

As soon as listed as a threatened species in Michigan, ospreys had been faraway from the checklist in 2009 after profitable reintroduction efforts that concerned shifting chicks from the northern elements of the state to areas in southern Michigan.

However they’re nonetheless not big in numbers round right here.

The Michigan Division of Pure Assets reported just a little over a 12 months and a half in the past there have been greater than 200 osprey nests throughout the state, together with about 125 within the northern elements of the state and 65 within the southern Decrease Peninsula. That’s up from 51 nests recorded throughout Michigan in 1965.

Federally protected hen makes its dwelling on Jackson cell tower

“As soon as commonplace within the Nice Lakes area, osprey populations had been suppressed within the post-World Battle II years as using DDT and different pesticides induced thinning of the birds’ eggshells,” DNR wildlife biologist Julie Oakes wrote in a December 2020 article, citing a 1972 ban on using DDT as a motive osprey numbers started to rebound, with 81 nests recognized within the state in 1975 after which 166 in 1988.

However as osprey numbers remained low in southern Michigan, the DNR teamed up with others on reintroduction efforts over time. Citizen volunteers even have helped monitor osprey nests by means of an adopt-a-nest program, whereas GPS monitoring has supplied details about the birds’ areas as they seasonally migrate to and from Central and South America.

Ospreys could log greater than 160,000 migration miles throughout their 15-to-20-year lifetime, in accordance with AllAboutBirds.org.

“The comeback of the osprey is yet one more conservation success story simply seen by wanting up in the correct locations,” Erin Rowan, MI Birds program affiliate with the DNR and Audubon Nice Lakes, mentioned in an announcement. “Solely 51 osprey nests had been recorded in Michigan in 1965, however right this moment greater than 200 are discovered throughout the state, most of that are in cellphone towers which might be simply viewable from public roads.”

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