Return of the fish eaters

Bald eagle photographed near Fulton, Illinois by Tim Wallace.

 For those of us who care deeply about preserving biodiversity, there  is much in the world to feed our pessimism. But scattered among the examples of diminishing populations are some wonderful exceptions, species  on  an upward trend that are regaining lost territory (and even establishing outposts in places they never were before). I am referring here to piscivorous birds like white pelicans, ospreys, and bald eagles.

White pelicans now migrate through here in large numbers and even nest in two places in Wisconsin: Green Bay (the bay not the city) and Horicon Marsh, where the National Wildlife Refuge headquarters offers live veiws of the rookery from a remote camera. Kumlien and Hollister’s 1903 Birds of Wisconsin makes no mention of the species nesting in the state. And even pelicans in migration were unusual enough in northern Illinois that an 1833 issue of the Chicago Democrat (the city’s first newspaper) included a note that one had been shot nearby.  

 Bald eagles did nest in the Chicago area until the 1890s, with the last two locations both in Indiana. But all we know about nesting ospreys in northeastern Illinois is Robert Kennicott’s brief statement from 1855 that the species “is known to nest in Cook County.” Well, just four years ago or so a pair of bald eagles tried to nest  within the city limits of Chicago, a thing never before recorded. They have not to anyone’s knowledge produced any young, but they made another go at it early this spring before giving up. Ospreys started nesting in the Palos Forest Preserves of southwestern Cook County several years ago and the species now nests inside the the city. 

 I was reminded of all this when two days ago I took a friend to see the bald eagle nest at the Chain of Lakes in Lake County, IL (first county nesting record in well over a century). We did not see the adults but a large youngster was standing tall in one side of the bulky structure. The eagles had moved into a great blue heron rookery a couple of years ago. The eagles arrived first, and when the first heron showed up to resume occupancy of its familiar haunts, the eagles killed it. The same fate awaited a turkey vulture that strayed too close.

One more thing about the nest is worth relating. It is isolated from the mainland by a wide artificial channel where a local agency often dredges. So of all the sites they could pick, the adults decided to raise their family where they can be serenaded by large earth moving equipment working in the shadow of their nest. And the cherry on the sundae: as we watched the eaglet, an osprey soared over. It was my first of the year.

Osprey photographed at Port Charlotte, Florida by Carolyn Fields.