(VIRGINIA MERCURY) – According to the Virginia Mercury, Conservationists have been sounding the alarm for years over the lackluster breeding seasons for osprey along the Chesapeake Bay, and debate continues about why. A new study from the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William & Mary shows broods that nest in areas of the Bay that rely mostly on Atlantic menhaden are more likely to starve to death just weeks after hatching.
Researchers point to populations of menhaden, a small forage fish, not being large enough to feed the chicks and the fish entering the Bay later in the breeding season as possible reasons for the starving birds. There have been signs of osprey populations struggling to breed for years, and challenges for other species that rely on the menhaden. A study about menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay specifically has been unable to get off the ground in the state legislature.
The William & Mary study examined salinity levels in certain areas of the Chesapeake Bay and how they relate to the kind of fish the osprey are preying on to survive. Researcher Bryan Watts used that data to categorize the osprey populations by where they nest and what fish they will likely depend on.
“Once you get to the lower salinity water, for example, the upper James (River), you wouldn’t expect menhaden to be there,” Watts said. “The ospreys in that part of the river depend primarily on catfish and gizzard chad, so they don’t feed on menhaden there.”
The 2025 breeding season, which stretches from March to August, experienced major weather events that impacted the nesting.
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