Osprey Chicks Banded in Southeast Michigan

By Duncan Johnson

Michigan –-(Ammoland.com)- 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 southeast Michigan, monitoring efforts are tracking the revitalization of this species.

Each year in southeast Michigan, the Department of Natural Resources bands young osprey chicks. At about four to five weeks of age and before they can fly, osprey chicks are given two bands on their legs – one colorful band, denoting the year the chick hatched, and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service band, usually silver and bearing a serial number specific to that bird. These bands are placed on young birds so that scientists can monitor and track the dispersal, migration, life span, reproductive success, behavior and population growth of the ospreys.

So far this month, more than a dozen young ospreys have been banded at Pointe Mouillee State Game Area, Erie State Game Area and Kensington Metropark. Several other osprey chicks from area nests will be banded before the chicks fledge, or develop the …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand