Current Osprey Survival Concerns

Bay Osprey researchers and observers continue to raise concerns regarding reduced brood sizes and low chick survival. Breeding season failures throughout monitored locations are reported on a continued basis from Tilghman Island, the Little Wicomico, Lynnhaven River, James and Patuxent Rivers as well as on Poplar Island. These observations and concerns over the past few years have led to questions about causation. What is causing the lower reproductive rates we have become accustomed to seeing? Most biologists working with the population believe that three factors are driving failures, including (i) decreased Osprey reproduction because of reduced fish stocks, (ii) predation, and (iii) climate change contributing to poor weather conditions.

Bryan Watts, who heads the William and Mary Center for Conservation and Biology has studied the Bay Osprey for more than 25 years and considers predators a secondary problem. In 2023 and 2024, Osprey reproductive rates dropped to their lowest level in decades—even lower than at the height of the DDT period, Watts says. He and his students say the cause is not chemicals but hunger. Chicks are starving in their nests due to a lack of prey, and in particular, the small, high-fat forage fish on which some Osprey depend: Atlantic menhaden. “There’s no question that there’s not enough menhaden to support the Osprey right now,” Watts says. In the Chesapeake, conservationists say those menhaden declines are due to overfishing by a single company Omega Protein, based in the lower Bay.

Bay Osprey researchers and observers continue to raise concerns regarding reduced brood sizes and low chick survival. Breeding season failures throughout monitored locations are reported on a continued basis from Tilghman Island, the Little Wicomico, Lynnhaven River, James and Patuxent Rivers as well as on Poplar Island. These observations and concerns over the past few years have led to questions about causation. What is causing the lower reproductive rates we have become accustomed to seeing? Most biologists working with the population believe that three factors are driving failures, including (i) decreased Osprey reproduction because of reduced fish stocks, (ii) predation, and (iii) climate change contributing to poor weather conditions.

If the food source—fish stock—decreases, adult Osprey may not be able to provide sufficient food to the chicks and young as they grow in the nests. There are continued reports that Osprey broods have been lost to both bald eagles and great horned owls as these species have also recovered and expanded from the DDT era. Lastly, most raptors are susceptible to cold rains and excessive heat during the critical development period when eggs are near hatching or chicks are too young to thermoregulate on their own (first two weeks). It is certainly possible that increasing spring storms could have caused some of these Osprey nest failures.

Bryan Watts, who heads the William and Mary Center for Conservation and Biology has studied the Bay Osprey for more than 25 years and considers predators a secondary problem. In 2023 and 2024, Osprey reproductive rates dropped to their lowest level in decades—even lower than at the height of the DDT period, Watts says. He and his students say the cause is not chemicals but hunger. Chicks are starving in their nests due to a lack of prey, and in particular, the small, high-fat forage fish on which some Osprey depend: Atlantic menhaden. “There’s no question that there’s not enough menhaden to support the Osprey right now,” Watts says. In the Chesapeake, conservationists say those menhaden declines are due to overfishing by a single company Omega Protein, based in the lower Bay.

Bay Osprey researchers and observers continue to raise concerns regarding reduced brood sizes and low chick survival. Breeding season failures throughout monitored locations are reported on a continued basis from Tilghman Island, the Little Wicomico, Lynnhaven River, James and Patuxent Rivers as well as on Poplar Island. These observations and concerns over the past few years have led to questions about causation. What is causing the lower reproductive rates we have become accustomed to seeing? Most biologists working with the population believe that three factors are driving failures, including (i) decreased Osprey reproduction because of reduced fish stocks, (ii) predation, and (iii) climate change contributing to poor weather conditions.

Bryan Watts, who heads the William and Mary Center for Conservation and Biology has studied the Bay Osprey for more than 25 years and considers predators a secondary problem. In 2023 and 2024, Osprey reproductive rates dropped to their lowest level in decades—even lower than at the height of the DDT period, Watts says. He and his students say the cause is not chemicals but hunger. Chicks are starving in their nests due to a lack of prey, and in particular, the small, high-fat forage fish on which some Osprey depend: Atlantic menhaden. “There’s no question that there’s not enough menhaden to support the Osprey right now,” Watts says. In the Chesapeake, conservationists say those menhaden declines are due to overfishing by a single company Omega Protein, based in the lower Bay.

Bryan Watts, who heads the William and Mary Center for Conservation and Biology has studied the Bay Osprey for more than 25 years and considers predators a secondary problem. In 2023 and 2024, Osprey reproductive rates dropped to their lowest level in decades—even lower than at the height of the DDT period, Watts says. He and his students say the cause is not chemicals but hunger. Chicks are starving in their nests due to a lack of prey, and in particular, the small, high-fat forage fish on which some Osprey depend: Atlantic menhaden. “There’s no question that there’s not enough menhaden to support the Osprey right now,” Watts says. In the Chesapeake, conservationists say those menhaden declines are due to overfishing by a single company Omega Protein, based in the lower Bay.

Bryan Watts, who heads the William and Mary Center for Conservation and Biology has studied the Bay Osprey for more than 25 years and considers predators a secondary problem. In 2023 and 2024, Osprey reproductive rates dropped to their lowest level in decades—even lower than at the height of the DDT period, Watts says. He and his students say the cause is not chemicals but hunger. Chicks are starving in their nests due to a lack of prey, and in particular, the small, high-fat forage fish on which some Osprey depend: Atlantic menhaden. “There’s no question that there’s not enough menhaden to support the Osprey right now,” Watts says. In the Chesapeake, conservationists say those menhaden declines are due to overfishing by a single company Omega Protein, based in the lower Bay.