Connecticut’s osprey population is facing a troubling trend, with the birds recording their worst breeding season on record, according to the Connecticut Audubon Society.<\/p>\n
Experts say a sharp decline in osprey chick survival rates could be linked to food shortages, raising concerns about the health of the state’s coastal ecosystem.<\/p>\n
The average number of chicks produced per breeding pair dropped to 0.87 this year, down from 1.25 last year, which was already a record low.<\/p>\n
Matt Joyce, with the Connecticut Audubon Society, said the numbers are alarming.<\/p>\n
\u201cA real sharp decline and not something you expect to see naturally,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n
The decline in osprey chick survival has already been documented around the Chesapeake Bay, but conservation programs farther north indicate the problem is moving up the Atlantic coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving an Osprey monitoring program like we do, allows us to keep our eyes peeled for signs of that crisis moving north,\u201d said Joyce.<\/p>\n
While the adult osprey population in Connecticut remains relatively strong, experts are increasingly concerned about the birds’ ability to feed their young.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe primary hypothesis is starvation of chicks in the nest,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n
One possible explanation is a decline in baitfish populations, including menhaden, also known as bunker, which are an important food source for ospreys.<\/p>\n
Experts say more research is needed to determine what’s driving the decline in baitfish, but commercial fishing and changing water temperatures could be contributing factors.<\/p>\n
The troubling numbers have surprised even some Connecticut residents who have taken an interest in the birds.<\/p>\n
Sandra Van Vooren, of East Hartford, painted an osprey for an art competition this spring but said she hadn’t realized how severe the breeding decline had become.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew they weren\u2019t great; I didn\u2019t realize how bad they were,” Van Vooren said.<\/p>\n
Van Vooren said the setback is particularly disappointing given previous efforts to help the species recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those things we started to fix and the numbers were increasing and then it’s going back down again,” Van Vooren said.<\/p>\n
Experts said the consequences could extend far beyond ospreys.<\/p>\n
The birds are considered bioindicators, meaning their health can provide important clues about the condition of the broader ecosystem and food chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are seeing ospreys dropping off, there is a really good chance that all the other organisms — striped bass, dolphins, and ourselves, we are part of the food chain as well, they will also take a knock. They will be negatively impacted as well,\u201d Joyce explained.<\/p>\n
There is already consideration of reducing the number of baitfish harvested annually from the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, researchers plan to continue closely monitoring osprey nests to better understand what’s causing the decline.<\/p>\n
Joyce said the concerning numbers underscore the importance of taking precautions before the problem becomes worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the extra reason for us to be precautionary and be careful we are pausing and taking stock of the situation and find out exactly why,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connecticut’s osprey population is facing a troubling trend, with the birds recording their worst breeding season on record,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[183216,79,201],"class_list":["post-881400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-milford","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}