COEUR d'ALENE - As Wayne Melquist approached an osprey nest atop a piling in Cougar Bay on Lake Coeur d'Alene, he knew this stop would be a challenge.

One of the now-spunky young ospreys in the nest was on the verge of flying away for the first time and feasting on a fish.

Not to mention there was a swarm of bees also partaking in the meal and the mama osprey was crackling and circling overhead to keep close eye on Melquist banding the young so they can be tracked.

"You know how kids are," Melquist said on Wednesday during one of his last banding outings of the summer. "When they get older they can get cranky and not listen to you."

Melquist calmed the bird by draping his jacket over it to create darkness so he could complete the job.

Melquist, a retired Idaho Fish and Game biologist, has been banding and tracking osprey on area lakes and streams for 41 years to learn more about their migratory patterns, habitat and other trends.

Roughly 200 pairs of osprey raise their young here each summer before heading to west-central Mexico or Central America in late August and September for the winter. He said one osprey made it from South Dakota - where Melquist assisted with a separate osprey program - to the Caribbean in two days.

"They're a fascinating bird," he said.

Labor of love

Melquist started the North Idaho program for his master's degree in the early '70s, continued it when he worked for IDFG and hasn't found any reason to release it in retirement. He said he plans to continue the work until he can't and hopes someone is there to hand the baton off to.

Melquist, 65, has banded about 2,700 of the birds of prey over the years. In some years, he has banded as many as 100 osprey over the summer. He banded numbers 25 through 30 of this year on Wednesday. One of the young was found dead.

"A few just don't make it ... hard to know why," said Melquist, adding that sickness is likely the leading cause. "They're not aggressive toward each other."

The mother osprey stick close to their young, never leaving sight of the nest and always returning soon after Melquist moves on.

"The abandonment is a fairy tale," Melquist said. "They're good mamas."

Melquist said he believes the osprey presence in North Idaho is as strong as it was when he started his study. A ban on the DDT pesticide has helped. What he has noticed, however, is that more are leaving the pilings of the lakes and rivers for the tops of utility poles and snags because of increased boat traffic over the years.

When he can, Melquist encourages boaters and anglers to not hang around the nesting areas if possible. He said he realizes some may not realize the effect it can have on osprey.

"We used to have signs with a picture of an osprey that said to not stay around (for periods at a time) because the embryos may die," he said. "We probably need to make more signs."

Osprey, sometimes known as the sea hawk, has historical roots in North Idaho as evidenced by the feathers in the median on Northwest Boulevard at one of Coeur d'Alene's gateways.

Melquist said the utility firms have been great about allowing nests on their networks, even though he realizes the birds don't provide any advantages to the grid. He said that cooperation, along with groups' efforts to preserve the pilings and/or add new nests, have kept the osprey presence strong.

Banding the birds

In most cases, Melquist climbs up an extension ladder from a pontoon boat operated by Ross Walkinshaw to reach the nests and the young birds. Sometimes a second visit is required because the osprey aren't large enough yet to hold the bands on.

"There's lots of various sizes; their births are staggered," Melquist said.

He has only been attacked by an agitated mama once.

"She smacked me in the forehead," he said. "Thankfully her talons were closed."

The aluminum bands have a number that corresponds with information Melquist records such as the location of the nest and date and an 800 number to a Fish and Wildlife Service lab in Laurel, Md.

When people find an osprey with a band that has died or is injured, the hope is that they'll call the lab so the date, location and other information can be recorded. They are given a certificate for calling in.

Melquist said that roughly only one in 100 bands are reported.

"If you think about how migratory they are it's easy to understand why," said Melquist, adding that osprey, protected here, are often shot in Third World countries.

Osprey don't migrate in groups and most head due south, Melquist said. Females tend to migrate farther south than the males.

"A little freedom away from the old lady (or old man) never hurts," Melquist said.

If and when they return to North Idaho, there's always a friend in Melquist waiting to pay them a visit.

"They come back to their same nests," Walkinshaw said. "Wayne knows them, and they know him. He's Mr. Osprey."