July 15...

Well, it is turning into a catastrophic year for the ospreys. More chicks are dead or missing, nests are empty, the head count diminishes. I will be checking as many nests as I can in the coming days. Volunteers, please check nests and count heads more frequently if you are able. And we have not yet gotten to the usual mortalities which occur around fledging time. As I have said in the past, Ospreys are an indicator species so when their productivity decreases, we need to pay attention. We need to look at this carefully...there are always ups and downs from year to year, but this feels different. We will see what the final outcomes are...and we will compare our data to other states, other researchers.