Video: Osprey Chicks Banded In Lino Lakes

LINO LAKES, Minn. (WCCO) -- In the past 25 years, there's been an effort to bring the osprey back as a nesting species to the Twin Cities.

The osprey is a large raptor (bird of prey) that feeds mostly on fish.

The Twin Cities Osprey Program has built more than 90 nest platforms in the metro, and there are now about 60 active osprey territories in the state. And on Tuesday, young osprey chicks were banded in Lino Lakes. WCCO-TV photojournalist Garrett Young captured the event on video, which can be seen above.

The bands placed on the 5-week-old chicks are recorded in a lab in Washington D.C., a specialist at the event said. And if anyone were to find a dead osprey, they would give the band tag to the lab, which would be able be able to say how old the bird was, where it was born and how far it flew in its lifetime.

"That's one way we monitor the population," the specialist said.

Fact: opreys will use just about anything to build their nests, things like baseball gloves, teddy bears, and even women's underwear.