C37 and mate's two chicks continue to thrive, and probably have now fledged. This nest on the cell tower near Lapeer, MI was visited two times in the past couple of weeks. The most recent visit was on Wednesday, July 27th to do a story with the Flint Journal. Both chicks were showing progress in flapping multiple times, and one of them almost flew past the edge of the upper cell tower antenna array twice. The other chick was seen flapping and flying/hopping around the nest. From what we could see with the spotting scope, one chick is a male, the other a female. C37 continues to bring in lots of fish from the nearby lakes. A photo essay of C37 in 2001 and now is included in the 2005 Photos section.

All of the Kensington chicks have fledged during the past week or so also. The youngest of the two female chicks at the Wildwing Lake nest fledged at 2:10 PM on Sunday, July 24th to the delight of those attending Osprey Fest sponsored by OWSEM and the Kensington Nature Center. The older chick, who fledged on Wednesday of that week put on flying and water entry demonstrations numerous times. It was great fun to watch them, and educational for those in attendance.

A revised Sighting Map is available containing the latest sightings from Southeast Michigan.

The male osprey at the cell tower nest near Lapeer, MI has been has been verified to be C37, who was one of 6 chicks released from the Kensington Hacking Facility in 2001. We are delighted he is alive and well and has returned to Michigan to rear young with his wild mate. His identity was confirmed by Naturalist Mike Champagne (naturalist out at seven ponds nature center), and some other birders, who were at that nest today. Many thanks to Mike and his friends for getting this much needing identification information. Two, 6-week old chicks were seen in that nest early this week by OWSEM volunteer Jim Kortge. Mike and his friends confirmed their presence again today.

More exciting news comes from Wildwing Lake at Kensington Metropark. One of the chicks in that nest has successfully fledged, probably either on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. She was seen today flying about the lake, dragging her talons in the water, and doing slow speed water entrys, all important activities leading up to learning to catch fish on her own. Her sister should fledge on Saturday, or Sunday. If she waits for Sunday, it will fit in nicely with Osprey Fest 2005 being held on that day at Kensington. Folks coming out for that event will maybe get to see her fly for the first time. It is a thrilling thing to watch!

A new osprey nest near Lapeer, MI has been discovered and reported to the Michigan DNR. They in turn alerted OWSEM of its presence, and that nest was visited and photographed today. What we found was a very large nest on the upper level of a cell tower. After many hours of viewing and photographing, we can report the following information. The female is not banded. The male is banded on both legs. On his right leg is a silver USFWL band, and on his left leg, a green anodized hacking band bearing the "C" prefix. The last number of the two digit suffix appears to be either a "7" or a "2", but this needs to be verified. The first number on the band, adjacent to the "C", could not be seen this morning (an uncooperative bird) and also needs to be read for positive ID. Lori Sargent of the Michigan DNR has seen at least one chick in this nest; there may be more.

Employees of ZF Lemforder Corp, which is adjacent to the tower site, report that this is the first year they have seen these birds.

This nest is located about 1/4 mile North of I69 at the Lake Nepessing exit, which is exit 153. If you visit this nest site and want to use the ZF Lemforder Corp. parking lot for observing, please ask them (as we did) if it is OK, as a courtesy.

We are most anxious to have positive identification of the hacking band numbers on the male. If you are able to read them, please share your observations with OWSEM and the Michigan DNR. You'll need a decent spotting scope or camera with long lens to be able to verify the numbers on the green hacking band, as the tower is quite high. and you have to be away from a base a fair distance to be able so see the male osprey's feet. Who will be the first to accomplish this task?

New photos of this osprey pair and their nest are included in the "2005 Photos" section.

The "Sightings Map" has also been updated to include this latest nest.

In other breaking news, DNA results for the osprey chicks banded at Kensington Metropark and the Acme cell tower location have been received. The 3 chicks in the Dawson Road nest are all males, the 2 chicks in the Wildwing Lake nest are both females, and the single chick in the cell tower nest is also a male. With some good luck, one or more of these males may return to the area in two to three years to nest and raise young. Most exciting!

A very successful chick banding operation was conducted on Tuesday, June 28th by Michigan DNR and Detroit Zoo staff. All of the Kensington Metro Park chicks (5 total) at Wildwing Lake and Dawson Road nests were banded with speed and efficiency.

Each chick was banded as "female" since the USFWL female sized band seemed to be the correct fit. Blood samples were drawn from each chick so that it can be sexed correctly. Those results should be available in about 2 weeks.

A photo essay (long) of the day's banding activity is available for viewing in the 2005 Photo section.

The Kensington chicks range in age from about 4 weeks old to 5 weeks old. In about 3 weeks, give or take a few days, the oldest of them will fledge. Hopefully, we will get some photos of that happening! Stay tuned.....

Over the past few weeks, OWSEM volunteers have been watching the various active nests, hoping to see how many chicks were in each one. We finally have most of the answers.

If you recall, there were 2 eggs and one chick in the Wildwing Lake nest at the last update. Since that time, we've come to realize that there are only two chicks in that nest. Either an egg didn't hatch, or the chick perished at an early age, before it was large enough to be seen from the shore. OWSEM volunteer and contributing photographer Bob DeLosh got a great shot of these two chicks and mother osprey recently.

There were also 3 eggs in the Dawson Road nest. We are delighted to report that all of them hatched, so that nest has a full complement of young osprey chicks. They all appear to be the same size, so probably hatched no more than a day apart. OWSEM volunteer and contributing photographer Jim Kortge also got a good shot of these chicks and their mother. This nest location was recently visited by about 20 children as part of a Kensington Farm Center summer program. OWSEM volunteers Barb Jensen and Jim Kortge provided spotting scope viewing opportunities for the kids. Talk about seeing something exciting and out of the ordinary! They were facinated and OWSEM is delighted to partner with the Farm Center in providing this educational opportunity.

Speaking of the Dawson Road nest, another activity which took place a couple of weeks ago was to create and install appropriate signage along the river to alert boaters of the osprey nest platform in the river and to direct them around it so that the ospreys are not unduly disturbed. The majority of the boating traffic, mainly canoeists, come down the river from the up-river canoe liveries. Most of the signage is designed and placed to aid this group. However, additional signage assists general boating traffic coming up-river from the South, within Kensington Park itself.

A trip to Sterling State Park in Monroe, MI a short while back provided opportunities to watch and photograph the capture of the adult ospreys tending that nest. The female was already banded, but the source of her bands were unknown. Not anymore! She is from the Ohio osprey reintroduction effort. Her mate is also now banded to assist in future identification efforts. Since the single chick in that nest was old enough, (almost 3 weeks) it too was banded. Sergej Postupalski and a team of DNR and Detroit Zoo personnel conducted this capture and banding operation.

Several observation sessions during the past weeks confirm osprey chicks in the cell tower nest South of Lee Road, near Brighton, MI. So far, we've not been able to see the chicks, but the female is holding court on or near the nest, while C22 keeps bringing in fish. There has to be at least one chick, and maybe more. We should know within the next two weeks as the chicks gain in size and start moving around more.

We have gotten several recent osprey sighting reports from near Tecumseh, MI and Southwest of Manchester, MI. They are frequent enough to make one wonder if there isn't an active nest or two down that way. Hopefully, more reports will be forthcoming so that any nesting locations can be found. We need your help to accomplish this task. If you see an osprey, please report it to osprey@owsem.org or call it in to 810-629-0378 and also please report it to the DNR on their website. A new sighting map showing the latest reports is available for viewing.

Osprey Fest - 2005 planning is underway. OWSEM volunteer and event coordinator Kathy Kortge is in need of more people to help with the activities on the event day, July 24th. If this is something you would be interesting in doing, please contact Kathy at 810-629-0378 or by email at kikortge@yahoo.com.

A nest survey was conducted today by OWSEM volunteers Barb Jensen and Jim and Kathy Kortge. We used a small digital camera on a pole to peer over the edge of the nest and photograph its contents, after paddling to the nest in a canoe. Much to our surprise and delight, the Wildwing Lake nest contained a one- day-old chick, and two unhatched eggs. One of those two eggs is about to hatch also.

Moving on to the Dawson Road nest, we found it contained 3 eggs. Potentially, these two nests could fledge 6 chicks!

Photos of this nest survey are available for viewing in the 2005 Photos section.

A trip to Sterling State Park was conducted by Jim and Kathy Kortge to determine if the female nesting there was the same bird as nested last summer. Last year's female appeared to have a black "hacking" band on her right leg and a silver USFWL band on her left. An hour and one-half of observation and phototgraphy confirmed those same bands on this year's female. It is very likely the same bird!

We also observed that one of this pair was always on the nest, indicating that eggs are being incubated or that chicks have hatched.

A bonus of this trip was seeing an adult bald eagle!

Finally, Barb Jensen had observed an "extra" osprey hanging out at the Acme cell tower nest. It is well known, but somewhat rare, that two males will tend a single female. A visit to the Acme nest to confirm Barb's observation was unsuccessful, but provided an opportunity to further document the bands on the female nesting there. She appears to have a silver USFWL on her right leg, and a pair of bands on her left leg. These bands are white or silver over a red or maroon. We had seen the red/maroon band in previous years.

The active nests reported earlier in the Kensington area now appear to have incubation activity going on. At all three, the female is very low in the nest. She does not leave the nest uncovered for more than a few seconds, when the male comes in with a fish and spells her and takes over the incubating duties so she can stretch her wings and feed. The number of eggs in each nest is unknown at this point in time.

Several ospreys have been reported in the Southeast Michigan area over the past three weeks, and one just outside of our monitoring area. Those within include a sighting near Tecumseh, another Southwest of Pinckney on Patterson Lake. Additional sightings were reported on Hamburg Lake, Southeast of Hamburg, and North of Parshallville on Lake Shannon. The Lake Shannon osprey has been reported several times over several days. These sightings have been added to the "2005 Sightings Map".

We also received a report of an osprey in the Grand River, South of Eaton Rapids, that could not get out of the water. It was rescued and taken to a rehab facility in the area. We are hoping to get more information on this bird in the future.

April 13th

There are a number of new events to report with this upate.

All of the ospreys that nested locally last year are back and have been confirmed. C09 and mate from last summer are nesting on Wildwing Lake, C22 and mate are back on the 180 foot cell tower South of the Lee Rd. exit on US 23. In addition, the pair of wild ospreys that nested South of the Dawson Rd. bridge across the Huron River are also back. The photo section has been updated with images of these birds.

In addition, they are a pair of ospreys nesting at Sterling State Park near Monroe. This is probably the same pair from last year, but no one has confirmed their identity. We could use help from anyone down that way to provide field observations and confirm their identity. Bob Tarte, also reports that ospreys seem to be nesting in Lowell again on the abandoned railroad bridge Southeast of town. While that location isn't part OWSEM's active watch area, we are delighted to hear the good news.

Over the past weekend, (April 10th) several OWSEM volunteers removed the garbage can lids that had been placed on the nesting platforms to prevent geese from claiming them. Amazingly, two of the nests had 6-8 inches of new material over the garbage can lids, making removal of the lids a bit touchy. They were carefully slid out from under that new material, with minimal disturbance of the nest. Images of this activity are also in the photo section.

We've also had ospreys sighted in two more locations. A pair of ospreys were sighted flying Northeast at the intersection of Milford and Davisburg roads. Another osprey has been seen eating a large pike atop a power pole near 13 1/2 mile and Van Dyke (M53). The sighting map has been updated with these latest reports, and the active, known nest locations.

If you know of other active osprey nests in the Southeast Michigan area, we would like to hear from you. Click the "Contact US" link above.

April 5th

C09 and mate have returned to their Wildwing Lake nest for the 4th year. They have been back for several days. Volunteer, Kathy Kortge, was able to read the leg band numbers using a spotting scope from shore. The female with C09 has a red band on her right let, but may have others that were not visible, as well as bands on her left leg. More observations are needed.

We also know that C22 and a mate have taken up residence again on the cell tower 2 miles South of Lee road in Brighton. This pair returned last last week according to employees of Acme Building Materials who have been watching this pair for the past two years. This will be their 3rd year back.

In addition to the above, a single osprey was seen looking over the new nest platform on Kent Lake. This platform is just a bit South of the Kensington MetroPark East entrance off of Milford road. This could be a new arrival, or one of the birds who nested at Dawson road last year, looking for a better nesting site.

More photos of this pair are available for viewing in the 2005 Photo Album.

The sighting map has also been updated to show C09's and C22's active nests.

April 4th

Two more osprey sightings have been reported. An osprey was recently seen over Wildwing Lake at Kensington Metropark and another over the Arb in Ann Arbor . It would appear that the warmer weather and breezes from the South late last week have brought some birds back earlier than in previous years.

The 2005 Sighting Map has been updated with these most recent reports, and new osprey nesting platforms erected this winter have been added to this map. As nests become active over the next few weeks, those too will be added.

As always, if you see an osprey, please report it to us at osprey@owsem.org.

March 25th

Somewhat to our amazement, we've had our first osprey sighting report for 2005. It was supplied by Timm Appleton who saw an osprey while driving eastbound on I96. The osprey was sighted over Woodruff Lake, which is south of I96 and just a bit west of Pleasant Valley road.

A stick pin has been added to the 2005 Osprey Sighting Map and that map is now available for viewing on the "Sightings Map" page. Many thanks to Timm for his report.

If you see an osprey, you can report it to us at osprey@owsem.org.

March 5th

We have about a month to go before "our" ospreys will start showing up in southeast Michigan. We expect to begin seeing birds migrating through towards the end of March, with residents beginning to claim their breeding territories and build their nests in early April. This page will be updated frequently once the birds start arriving, so please visit often! We anticipate another exciting osprey season in 2005!

Please help us keep tabs on southeast Michigan's ospreys. If you spot an osprey you may report the sighting to OWSEM by email at: osprey@owsem.org or by phone at 810-629-0378. Please note the date, time and location of the sighting and any identifying features, for example leg bands or missing flight feathers. Ospreys may be wearing one or several bands on their legs. The US Fish & Wildlife band is silver metal and will be on the right leg. The numbers on this band are very small and will probably be difficult, if not impossible, to read even with a good scope. Colored plastic bands may also be present, in addition to the USFWS band, on one or both legs. There may be one, two or even three of these colored bands. Note the color and location of the bands, for example "right leg USFWS band with pink band above, and left leg with blue band on bottom and red band on top". Birds that were released as part of the osprey reintroduction project of southern Michigan will have the USFWS band on the right leg and a bright green metal band on the left. This green band will have very large white text and should be easy to read (for example "C22"). We are particularly interested in sightings of the hacked birds as it helps to determine the success of the reintroduction project.

Thank you for your cooperation!

While you're waiting for the ospreys to return, please browse the archives from 2004 and 2003 to see what has happened during the past two years.