Reintroduction Project

South Dakota Osprey Reintroduction Project

Osprey (Pandion haliaeetus) are a fish-eating hawk found around the world. However, during the 1970′s, many of their North American populations saw great declines due primarily to the pesticide DDT. After the use of DDT was banned in the United States, several re-introduction projects began to re-establish affected populations of not only Osprey, but also Peregrine Falcons and other species.

In South Dakota, Osprey currently nest near Pactola Reservoir and one or two other west-river sites. However, no confirmed nest sites exist in the eastern portion of this state.

Wildlife Experiences, Inc. is currently partnering with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks to introduce Osprey to south-eastern South Dakota. Research conducted in the mid-1990′s indicated that that region of South Dakota is the most suitable area to support Osprey, based on nesting and fishing habitat, as well as other factors. The Missouri River is a natural environment for Osprey to occupy, and that section of the river (below the Fort Randall Dam) has been largely unchannelized, allowing for suitable Osprey (and Bald Eagle) habitat to remain.

We built two towers with two release boxes each on them, one in Clay County, SD and one in Yankton County, SD. The Clay County site is just west of Vermillion on public land and can be seen from a comfortable distance (for the birds) in the Clay County Lakeside Use Area parking lot. The other tower is on private land. The towers are roughly 16 feet tall; the boxes were donated to us by a falcon release project, so they were perfect for the job. We took out the gravel and filled them with sticks to make “nests” for the osprey.

Wildlife Experiences staff collected young osprey from active nests in Minnesota with help from Minnesota DNR, Crow Wing Power Company and Minnesota Power Company. Both Crow Wing and Minnesota Power provided not only “bucket trucks,” but also crews and maps of known active osprey nests. Many of the nests that Crow Wing took us to were on the tops of tall poles that the company had planted nearby their lines to encourage the birds to nest elsewhere besides the tops of poles with live wires. They spoke to people who lived nearby the poles to find out which were active. We also had a large crew of camera and other media folks along with us on July 9th.We had rain and drizzle all morning, but still managed to collect three birds from five nests. Thank you Crow Wing Power!

Minnesota Power has a large number of power lines and an proportionately large number of osprey nests as well. The poles we visited with Minnesota Power were in general taller than the previous day. Some of the poles were also much more difficult to access, either due to location, the wet ground or both. We collected three birds on July 10th before the line crew was called away to an emergency repair!

A few of important things need to be mentioned. First of all, in every active nest we visited, we always left one chick. It is important that the adults be successful in their nesting in order for them to return and nest again next year. Thus, we always left one baby for the wild parents to raise, and only took birds from multiple-baby nests. We also tried to band each baby osprey that we left with a USFWS band.