The 12 osprey chicks from Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay that were banded, marked and examined here Friday morning were successfully transported to protected sites near Shelbyville and Canton later in the day.
The 6-week-old ospreys — fish-eating hawks with distinctive brown and white coloring — are considered endangered in Illinois. The dozen birds from Virginia are part of a “translocation” project begun in 2013 to re-establish a population of ospreys in the Land of Lincoln.
A major goal is to have at least some of the ospreys return to Illinois for breeding after they migrate south, sometimes as far away as South America, said Tih-Fen Ting, associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on July 9, 2016.
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