Osprey #1218:01791 Banded at Friends’ Nest Site

In July, Friends of the Chicago River and the Forest Preserves of Cook County marked a new milestone, banding an osprey chick for the first time at an 80’ tall osprey nest platform Friends installed at the Chicago Botanic Garden through private philanthropy in 2016. The chick, now known as #1218:01791, was fully feathered, healthy, and alert.

Since 2014, Friends has been working with scientists from the Forest Preserves to increase nesting sites available to osprey along the river system. Today, there are 21 nesting platforms across the forest preserves—five by Friends and 16 by the Forest Preserves. In addition to the Botanic Garden, Friends has installed osprey nesting platforms at Beaubien Woods on Chicago’s South Side, Erickson Woods in Winnetka, Skokie Lagoons, and at Whistler Woods in south suburban Riverdale. A number of chicks have fledged from these sites over the years, but the Botanic Garden chick was the first to be tagged.

The nesting platforms provide these majestic, fish-eating birds with great access to the healthy and growing fish populations in the river system, and allow a 360° view which osprey prefer to protect their young chicks from predators like the bald eagle. A conservation success nationally, osprey remain endangered in Illinois.

Ospreys usually lay between two and four eggs per clutch, but the parents of #1218:01791 are a young pair, which is likely why there’s only one chick in this nest. On average, osprey chicks fledge at around 50 days old. While young ospreys resemble adults in appearance, there’s an easy way to tell them apart: chicks have red eyes, whereas adults have yellow eyes.

Learn more about osprey by listening to our interview with Chris Anchor, senior wildlife biologist at the Cook County Forest Preserve District, on our Inside, Out & About podcast.