BCN Survey Coordinator Tim Balassie shares an update on what a longtime birding leader in our region has learned about nesting Ospreys and how you can help in these monitoring efforts!
PHOTO AT TOP: A juvenile Osprey in flight. Photo by Vic Berardi.
For the past 20-plus years Vic Berardi has been studying and photographing raptor species across much of the United States. As a resident of Gurnee in Lake County, IL, Vic has spent thousands of hours observing, photographing, and compiling raptor species counts in the Chicago Wilderness (CW) region. Vic is also the founder of the all-volunteer Illinois Beach State Park Hawkwatch which, for the past 24 years, has been counting migrating raptors in the fall. Many of us have had the pleasure of attending Vic’s raptor identification classes and enjoying his raptor photographs on Facebook and in exhibitions around the Chicagoland area.
In the course of Vic’s almost-weekly raptor surveys across Illinois and Wisconsin, he took note of the number of Ospreys nesting on communications towers. Many organizations have dedicated significant resources to promoting this state-threatened species, including the Illinois Natural History Survey, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and many Forest Preserve Districts around the state. These efforts include the erection of nesting platforms in and around bodies of water, as well as juvenile Osprey “hacking” operations (placing artificial nest boxes to release young Ospreys in suitable areas). However, over time it became evident to Vic that there was a growing population of Ospreys utilizing privately owned and operated communications structures as nesting sites.
Vic realized that without including the nesting sites on public property, ornithologists would have an incomplete picture of Osprey breeding, population trends, and nesting success . So, in 2021 Vic, usually accompanied by his wife Ann, started searching for these sites within the CW area. Over the succeeding four years Vic has traveled hundreds of miles during the breeding season documenting Osprey nesting sites and monitoring whenever possible the number of fledges present, concentrating on Lake and McHenry counties. Vic has also been able to recruit other birders to increase the number of eyes searching for nests and cover a wider area.
The chart and graph below depict the results of Vic’s surveys:
These data clearly show that the number of Osprey nests in Lake and McHenry have seen a substantial and welcome increase. At this point it would be hard to say if the increase in sites and birds is a result of the returning offspring of previous nesting successes, or an influx of new individuals – probably both.
As is usually the case with bird surveys, the more eyes in the field the better the results. In support of Vic’s efforts, I have been surveying Kane County for the past three years and have located active cell tower nests in the northern part of the county. We are also aware of two nests in the northwest part of Cook County.
Whereas Osprey nesting is encouraged and supported on publicly managed lands, the same cannot be said of nesting sites on private property. It appears that private owners do adhere to federal regulations on the preservation of active nests during breeding season. Some tower owners do remove nests after the breeding season, while others let the Osprey’s large stick nests remain. Regardless, it would seem that nest site fidelity is strong, as the birds return to the same sites year after year.
Those wishing to assist Vic in discovering and monitoring Osprey nesting using communication tower structures are encouraged to contact Vic Berardi at vbirdman@aol.com. Please also follow Vic on Facebook, where you’ll find many of his beautiful portraits of U.S. raptors.