Ospreys, their fate once up in the air, soar again over Chesapeake

"Ospreys are a familiar sight on the edges of the Chesapeake Bay and in the tidal reaches of its tributaries, as abundant as sailboats on a sunny weekend afternoon in spring. 

Drawn by warming weather, the promise of plentiful food and shallow water in which to hunt, they return to the Bay watershed every March. As remarkably adaptable birds of prey, ospreys can be found on every continent except Antarctica, but they have a special affinity for the Chesapeake. Nowhere else on the planet is there a larger breeding population.

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus)may be flying high now, but that wasn’t always the case. Four decades ago, the population bottomed out at 1,450 nesting pairs around the Bay. Since then, their numbers have climbed more than eightfold, scientists estimate. . ."

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

« Return to Chesapeake Bay Activities — News