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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Osprey leg-banding cruise on Lake Coeur d’Alene July 15; sign up

An osprey adult returns to the nest of its two 3-week-old chicks after osprey expert Wayne Melquist banded the young osprey in their nest along Lake Coeur d'Alene.
 (Carlene Hardt)
An osprey adult returns to the nest of its two 3-week-old chicks after osprey expert Wayne Melquist banded the young osprey in their nest along Lake Coeur d'Alene. (Carlene Hardt)

WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The popular annual Osprey Boat Cruise that follows biologists checking nests and banding young "fish hawks" of the year is set for 9 a.m. on July 15.

 Reserve a seat on the two-hour cruise by calling the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce, (208) 664-3194. 

Don't procrastinate if you want to watch the action, get some good photos and learn a lot of information about ospreys from experts on the boat. The 150 seats usually fill quickly.

Phil Cooper, Idaho Fish and Game Department educator, offers these tidbits of information about osprey and the banding research:

  • At least 100 pairs of these fish-eating hawks nest annually in the Coeur d’Alene Lake region including the lower reaches of the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene Rivers. 
  • Adult osprey along with the young of the year birds begin their annual migration in mid-September, traveling all the way to Baja California, Central America and many all the way to South America. The birds return in late winter/early spring to the area where they originally hatched.
  • Information on migration patterns and survival rates of Coeur d'Alene-area ospreys has been gathered for more than 25 years by University of Idaho and the Idaho Fish and Game Department.
  • Researchers have been studying and banding ospreys at Coeur d’Alene Lake for more than 35 years. The work is done to determine survival and mortality rates and to further define the migration patterns and wintering areas of the population.
  • Pre-flight osprey are taken briefly from nests just before fledging as parent birds fly around and screech their disapproval. A band with a unique number is quickly applied to one leg, and the 6-7 week old birds are placed back in the nests.
  • Parent osprey immediately return to the nests and continue raising their offspring.

"The adults take flight when the research boat approaches," Cooper said. "They make their displeasure known with loud, screeching calls intended to scare the biologists away; and, to tell the young osprey to lie down flat in an effort to hide. Yet, these brave biologists have years of experience banding and they can understand ‘osprey’ language. Knowing the adult birds are only using scare tactics, they go about their work and get away from the nest in no time flat."

The two-hour cruise will leave from the east side of the Coeur d'Alene Resort boardwalk by Tubbs Hill and McEuen Park promptly at 9 a.m.

Cost is $20 for adults. Children under 12 are free when with a paying adult. A family rate of $45 covers two adults and three children up to age 18. Seniors and students are $15.

Speakers on the cruise boat will include wildlife biologists and avian experts.



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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