One June 28 and 29, the South Shore Sanctuaries' Osprey banding team set out - Duxbury Conservation Agent Joe Grady, bander Vin Zollo of the Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, and project coordinator John Galluzzo - to check in on the nests of the "Fish Hawks" of the region. Over two days they checked 13 nests, and found some amazing things.

In all, they banded 24 chicks during those two days, from Quincy to Plymouth, not without surprises. One chick, found on a nest in Hingham, was a day old. One nest, far up inside Duxbury Bay, sported two dead chicks and an emaciated third, still clinging to life.

Two weeks later, they returned to two nests, to band three more chicks at Saquish, on the Plymouth shore, and to check on the hungry chick in Duxbury Bay...who was doing very well! For more information and pictures from the 2012 banding run, see the South Shore Journal, the Duxbury Clipper and the Old Colony Memorial.

To become a volunteer monitor for 2013, contact John Galluzzo at 781-837-9400.