The osprey is an icon of our region’s skies, but recent reports on their numbers from other spots along the East Coast have environmentalists a little worried.
Jennifer Skilbred is with Group for the East End. They conduct triennial surveys of Long Island osprey, but now, they want to make it yearly.
“The osprey population on the eastern end of Long Island has been healthier in the past decade and a half or so," Skilbred said. "That said, the concerns coming from Chesapeake Bay and New Jersey, making their way up the Atlantic coast, do have us a little concerned as well. And then some anecdotal stories have really accelerated our timeline.”
According to reports highlighted by the National Audubon Society, the Chesapeake Bay area has seen alarming rates of eggs not hatching, or chicks starving. Breeding pairs only raised an average .33 chicks per nest last summer. Between .8 and 1.15 is needed to sustain a healthy population.
Skilbred said there are a few theories out there, including extreme weather, water quality and a reduction in food source — fish.
“So, over the years as certain fish stocks have been reduced, they’ve begun to rely more on menhaden as their main food source, at least locally. And that said there have been reports coming in that menhaden on Long Island, there’s fewer of them, and the ones that are here are younger and smaller.”
Osprey had made a comeback over the last few decades after the U.S. banned the pesticide DDT. It had been linked to calcium deficiency in fish-eating birds, causing their eggs to be too thin to hatch. Skilbred said it goes to show that even when a species is doing well, it’s important to remain vigilant.
“Sometimes decisions made at regional, federal, state, and local levels can impact them so quickly. So, it’s never a done deal; you always have to keep an eye on it. Changes are always happening, and we have to be paying attention to notice these changes and the impacts they might be having.”
There are no updated numbers out of Long Island just yet, but researchers hope to find out whether our local population is holding steady.
