Tag: hatch

Osprey Nest Near Fish Hatchery

  • The osprey is a bird that scoops fish out of rivers and lakes (Photo courtesy of the National Parks Service)

Ospreys are birds of prey that eat fish. Todd Melby tells us about a pair of osprey that tried to nest near a fish hatchery:

Transcript

Ospreys are birds of prey that eat fish. Todd Melby tells us
about a pair of osprey that tried to nest near a fish hatchery:

The osprey is a raptor that scoops fish out of rivers and lakes.

So when a pair of osprey decided to mate near a DNR fish hatchery south of
Minneapolis, biologists were delighted and worried.

Ospreys rarely nest so far south. So that was good news. What worried biologists was
whether the birds would eat the fish. Biologists decided these fish were too small.

Another worry was the ospreys’ choice of a nesting site. In this case, the birds picked an
electrical power pole.

Lisa Gelvin-Innvaer is with the Minnesota DNR.

“They like high areas. Places that have room for them to put their nest. Transmission
poles often provide that.”

Biologists decided that was a bad idea, so they’ve built a tall nesting platform near the
power pole.

“We’re hopeful with the new nesting platform, that they’ll come back and attempt to nest
again.”

For The Environment Report, I’m Todd Melby.

Related Links

Whooping Cranes’ Poor Parenting

  • Whooping cranes have been abandoning their nests, and eggs, in search of food (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)

The experiment to create a migrating flock
of whooping cranes in the Eastern US is having a
parenting problem. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

The experiment to create a migrating flock
of whooping cranes in the Eastern US is having a
parenting problem. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

About 70 whooping cranes now migrate between the Southeast US and the Midwest.
Wildlife experts have been hoping that more pairs of the birds would start hatching eggs
and raising chicks in the wild.

This spring, at their northern home in Wisconsin, several female cranes did lay eggs and
sat on the nests during cold weather. But when it warmed up, the adult birds abandoned
their nests to look for food.

George Archibald is co-founder of the International Crane Foundation.

“If there is a food stress, when it becomes warmer their drive to feed may increase much
more than when it’s cold.”

Some of the crane eggs were saved and hatched out by wildlife centers.

For The Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

Related Links

First Wild Whooper Hatch in Midwest

For the first time in 100 years in the Midwest, whooping
crane chicks have hatched in the wild. But wildlife agencies say the
young birds may be especially vulnerable to predators. The GLRC’S
Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

For the first time in 100 years in the Midwest, whooping crane chicks have hatched in the
wild. But wildlife agencies say the young birds may be especially vulnerable to predators.
The GLRC’S Chuck Quirmbach reports:


Government and private wildlife agencies have been working for several years to re-
establish a migrating flock of whooping cranes in the Eastern U.S. This spring, two
crane eggs taken from the wild birds hatched in captivity, and now two more eggs have
hatched in the wild, at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin. But Rachel
Levin of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says being in the wild means potential
predators:


“These crane chicks will be with their parents and will be vulnerable to raccoons and
other types of predators that might be on the refuge.”


Levin says it’s possible the managers at Necedah will trap some raccoons. By the end of
the summer, the crane chicks will get their flight feathers and should be able to more
easily get away from dangers on the ground.


For the GLRC, I’m Chuck Quirmbach

Related Links

Eggs Layed in Whooper Recovery Effort

A whooping crane experiment in the Eastern U-S has had its first hatch of eggs from migrating birds. But humans had to help. The GLRC’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

A whooping crane experiment in the Eastern U.S has had its first hatch
of eggs from migrating birds. But humans had to help. The GLRC’s
Chuck Quirmbach reports:


Several migrating cranes laid eggs this spring at the Necedah National
Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, but some eggs broke. So, wildlife
officials scooped up two intact eggs and eventually sent them to a
wildlife center in Maryland. The eggs recently hatched. Wildlife
agencies say it’s a huge step for the effort to create a migrating and
reproducing flock of whoopers in the Eastern U.S.


Joan Garland of the International Crane Foundation says that’s even
though the chicks were not hatched in the wild.


“We did sort of have to help these eggs out a little bit. We did remove
them from the nests and raise them in incubators, but at least they were
produced and part of their life was there in the wild in the nests at
Necedah.”


Garland says the two chicks will probably be sent back to the wildlife
refuge this summer, and there, they’ll be taught to fly south.


For the GLRC I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

Related Links