Iowa’s 24 active osprey nests will be a bustling with activity this week and next as young ospreys are beginning to hatch. The osprey nest at the Wells Fargo campus in West Des Moines has two young hatching today and can be viewed live online at https://www.iowadnr.gov/ospreycam.
The 24 active nests is a new high for the fish hawk in its effort to reestablish and expand its foothold in Iowa. The osprey restoration effort began in 1997.
Meanwhile, the peregrine falcon restoration success story continues to grow.
Last year, 14 successful nests produced 35 young. While it’s too early to tally 2016 nest success, peregrine falcons have already hatched starting the countdown to when world’s most dynamic winged predator take their first flight. The peregrine restoration effort began in 1989.
On June 10, a peregrine falcon program will be held on the east side of the State Capitol building at 10 a.m. There will be spotting scopes to view the falcons and a program with a live peregrine falcon by Kay Newman from Saving Our Avian Resources, followed by a discussion of falcon activities at the site and others with Make Havlik, from the Dallas County Conservation Board and Pat Schlarbaum with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.