By Morgan Greene
An adult-size osprey sits in a nest in Busse Woods, part of Forest Preserves of Cook County, on July 9, 2021, in Elk Grove Village. Workers had hoped to band some ospreys this morning, but some were too large to safely remove from the nests.
It’s not too late to see an osprey flying overhead or swooping down to seize a writhing fish out of water — both remarkable sights in Cook County considering the birds not long ago essentially disappeared from Illinois.
The dark-topped, white-bellied raptors — still a threatened species in the state — have made a comeback. Their return is credited to an environmental cleanup that includes the 1972 ban of the pesticide DDT, and to human help: For decades, platforms on top of towering poles have been added throughout the Cook County Forest Preserve District to create a safer version of the birds’ preferred treetop nesting habitat.
This season, 14 nesting pairs settled down on platforms as high as 90 feet throughout the county; 11 of those pairs survived the summer, after tornadoes ripped through the suburbs.
The Forest Preserves team tries to band young ospreys so the birds can be recognized if they’re lucky enough to touch down in following years. Local nests usually turn up one to three young birds, said Chris Anchor, a longtime biologist with the Forest Preserves. But peering into a nest is always a surprise....
