Linemen install osprey nesting at Sangchris Lake State Park

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), in cooperation with Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative (RECC), installed two elevated platforms intended to attract nesting ospreys at Sangchris Lake State Park southeast of Rochester.

Ospreys – a bird of prey listed as an endangered ­species in Illinois – nest in large trees, on rock ­formations, or on artificial structures near lakes, ponds, rivers and streams, where the adults feed on fish. Elevated platforms like those installed by RECC at Sangchris Lake have been used successfully by nesting osprey at a number of ­locations in the Midwest, including at the Lake Shelbyville Sullivan Beach area in central Illinois.

“Park visitors, wildlife watchers and our IDNR site staff and biologists have seen ospreys spending time in and around Sangchris Lake during ­migrations each spring and fall, and we hope installation of these platforms will encourage more nesting pairs to produce chicks here,” said IDNR Director Marc Miller. “We appreciate the ­cooperation of RECC in ­providing the utility poles and platforms and installing them at Sangchris Lake as part of this wildlife restoration effort.”

“Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative has always had a good working relationship with the State of Illinois and Sangchris State Park, and we are happy to assist the park with the installations of the osprey nest platforms to help build the population of these beautiful birds,” said RECC Manager of Operations and Maintenance Louis L. DeLaby.