Osprey building a home

Ozaukee County sees 1st nest in decades

By LAWRENCE SUSSMAN
lsussman@journalsentinel.com

Posted: April 15, 2008

The first confirmed osprey nest in Ozaukee County in possibly 100 years has been spotted in the Town of Cedarburg, a state Department of Natural Resources official said Tuesday.

The osprey, a large black-and-white diving bird of prey that eats mostly fish, is classified as threatened in Wisconsin by the DNR's Bureau of Endangered Resources, said Owen Boyle, a DNR regional ecologist.

The osprey pictured in flight with a fish in its talon most likely is the female, Boyle said, adding that the female is much bigger than the male perched on the nest.

"It's possible that there's an egg in the nest," Boyle said. "They normally don't hatch until about the end of May."

The bald eagle population in northern Wisconsin has been growing and competing with osprey for food, he said. Consequently, the bald eagles are pushing osprey to the southern part of the state.

The American Transmission Co., based in Pewaukee, put up the nesting platform on top of an existing wooden pole from an old electric transmission line at the end of February, said Anne Spaltholz, a company spokeswoman.

"Our environmental staff had spotted osprey in the area, and the landowner was very interested and receptive about having the platform," she said.

Osprey, also known as fish hawks, nested in 49 of the state's 72 counties last year.

More than four-fifths of the state's nesting pairs use artificial platforms on communication towers and power poles.

From the April 16, 2008 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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