In June, we updated you on the troubling situation regarding our area’s osprey and our concern over their declining numbers. Unfortunately, our concerns have only increased.
In 2023, we admitted a total of 48 osprey patients.
In 2022, we received 57.
Osprey season is not even over this year, and we’ve already admitted a shocking 78 osprey into our care. More come to us almost every day…and those are just the patients who make it that far.
In past years, admitted osprey often included a mix of adults suffering from trauma related injuries and babies needing renesting assistance. This year, a majority of the patients are severely emaciated osprey chicks. Many of the chicks have been abandoned by their parents when, unable to find enough food to sustain the whole family, they must make the heartbreaking choice to save themselves.
Starvation is a difficult and time consuming condition to rehabilitate in birds of prey, but we always try our best. With fall migration beginning soon, we are in a race against time to release the survivors back to the wild so they can migrate south.
Why is this happening? We can’t say for sure. While not all causes are known, changing climate conditions and low menhaden fish populations seem to be contributing to the crisis on the Bay.
Please help us raise the alarm and increase awareness about our area’s osprey.
Contact your state and local elected officials to raise awareness of this issue. Fishing contracts for the Chesapeake’s menhaden population must be properly managed to give the osprey a hope of continued survival in our waters.
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
