Ospreys Showing up Across Iowa
OutdoorHub 07.19.11
Seventeen ospreys were relocated from Wisconsin and Minnesota to four sites in Iowa.
Sites receiving ospreys this year are White Rock Conservancy, near Coon Rapids, Mud Lake, near Dubuque, Spirit Lake, and at the Annett Nature Center south of Indianola.
The Dubuque and Warren County conservation board staff are providing webcams that will be up and running soon athttp://www.dubuquecounty.org/conservation/opsreycam/tabid/203/default.aspx and at http://www.warrenccb.org/programs/ospreycam.html .
There have also been 16 additional osprey pairs reported around Iowa this year.
“This year wild nesting osprey pairs will fledge more young than we relocate to Iowa and that is a great story,” said Pat Schlarbaum, wildlife diversity technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Osprey partners have reported three nesting pairs around Coralville Reservoir, four pairs in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area, three pairs in Polk County including one pair at Polk City Refuge with a male that has a distinctive green USFWS band indicating it is an Iowa produced survivor that has matured to adult, nesting status.
There is a nesting pair at Don Williams Lake, two nesting pairs in Linn County including one pair at the Duane Arnold Energy Plant and a second pair near Palo. There is a nesting pair at Spirit Lake two nesting pairs again this year near Sergeant Bluff along the Missouri River.
The Iowa DNR worked with staff from Allete Energy, Duluth Minn., to gather Minnesota ospreys and with the Wisconsin DNR gather Wisconsin ospreys.
