Look to the sky! The osprey population continues to take off in central Illinois

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Efforts are now underway in central Illinois to rebuild the osprey population.

The Massachusetts Audubon Society teamed up with the State of Illinois to rebuild the number of the birds in Illinois. The large raptor was once listed on Illinois' endangered list, but is now considered threatened rather than endangered.

osprey.jfif — A new Osprey chick is being checked over at the Illinois Raptor Center.

According to UIS Associate Professor Tih-Fen Ting, osprey eggs from the south coast of Massachusetts were brought to central Illinois. Once they hatched, conservationists brought them to the Illinois Raptor Center to get blood work, measured and banded.

"We have been trying to establish self-sustaining breeding populations of osprey in the state of Illinois, using a technique called hacking," said Ting.

Hacking is a way of reintroducing the raptors into the wild. Ting said specifically, that hacking collects and trans-locates the chicks from the wild to the nest in the areas of their intended release.

"We actually have two locations that we have conducted hacking, the first is at Banner Marsh, along the Illinois River and the other has been at Lake Shelbyville."

There were 12 Osprey released, six at Banner Marsh and six at Lake Shelbyville.