{"id":369087,"date":"2025-11-10T11:47:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/369087\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T11:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:47:11","slug":"cts-ospreys-once-near-extinction-roared-back-new-data-has-scientists-alarmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/369087\/","title":{"rendered":"CT\u2019s ospreys, once near extinction, roared back. New data has scientists alarmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The osprey population in Connecticut, once considered on the verge of extinction has seen a remarkable comeback<\/a>, but numbers are now trending down from a year ago as scientists launch a study to figure out the cause, according to the Connecticut Audubon Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new findings are highlighted in the group\u2019s annual State of the Birds 2025<\/a> publication entitled \u201cConservation Works: Building a Better Future for Birds.\u201d This year\u2019s publication is the Connecticut Audubon\u2019s 20th annual Connecticut State of the Birds report. Each year, the report explores conservation issues along with possible solutions to the most pressing problems affecting Connecticut\u2019s birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we put out a report based on our osprey numbers from our Osprey Nation project, it looks like this year the numbers will be down from last year,\u201d said Tom Andersen, CAS communications director and editor of the yearly report. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing numbers more in line from two years ago. One of the things we want to figure out is whether that\u2019s a natural fluctuation or if it means something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osprey Nation<\/a>, which started in 2014, is a dedicated group composed of around 400 volunteers who make it their mission to both spot and monitor the hundreds of active osprey nests around the state, Andersen said. Over the years the number of nests spotted have gone up significantly. Last year, there were over 900 active nests being monitored. But this year that number has fallen to around 800 with a noticeable drop in fledglings as well, he said. While the drop isn\u2019t a seismic shift in the population, it\u2019s enough to cause alarm, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere could be various factors for why we\u2019re seeing a population decline in Connecticut,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cSome possibilities are that the number of ospreys in the state have reached their capacity. There\u2019s an idea that we\u2019ve reached the carrying limit of their population. Once they hit a certain number, it\u2019s harder to get food for their babies. You can\u2019t have an infinite number of birds anywhere. Eventually they eat themselves out of the ability to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother theory is the weather,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were some differences in the weather that could have caused trouble with nests early in the season. We had a wet spring with lots of rain followed by drought conditions. So we\u2019re looking at the weather data to see if that might have been a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite the drop, Andersen said that Connecticut ospreys are doing much better than their Southern counterparts. The report\u2019s findings document an 80% drop in the osprey population along the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. While scientists are investigating potential causes, Andersen said it appears to be a problem with their largest food source.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the saltwater portions of the Chesapeake, there has been an 80% failure rate for osprey nests,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cFledglings are hatching but they are starving because the fish they rely on seemingly are gone. So while numbers are down in Connecticut, it is nothing like what we\u2019re seeing in the Chesapeake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ospreys rely heavily on a fish called menhaden, a small, silvery saltwater fish that is rich in oils and fats. The fish are filter feeders that eat plankton and serve as a crucial food source for the predatory birds. The fish are considered highly nutritious for fledglings as well, he said. But conservationists warn that the commercial fishing of menhaden is depleting their population and causing a mass die-off of ospreys in the Chesapeake, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have commercial fishing of menhaden up here in the Sound,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cBut what we really need to figure out is what Connecticut\u2019s ospreys are eating. We need to know if our ospreys also mostly eating menhaden or something else. So hopefully we can get some good scientific data that will not only help Connecticut\u2019s ospreys but Chesapeake ospreys as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecticut Audubon is set to launch a pilot project in 2026 to identify the primary fish species the state\u2019s ospreys depend on, he said. The hope is that once scientists figure out the bird\u2019s primary source of food, they can rule that out as a cause for their decline in population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is purely in the realm of speculation,\u201d Andersen said. \u201cBut there have been ancedotal reports that there are less menhaden in the Sound. We\u2019ve heard that from recreational fisherman and folks who have fished on the Sound. Those fisherman rely on menhaden for bait and they\u2019re saying they can\u2019t find them. So we\u2019re going to look into that and see if that could be a potential cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because there is no commercial fishing of menhaden in the Long Island Sound, their depletion would most likely stem from their commercial fishing in the Chesapeake, if the reports turn out to be true, Andersen said.<\/p>\n

The report also recommends \u201cstronger shorebird protection across the state, the restoration of federal funding for conservation research, and the adoption of bird-friendly building practices in cities throughout the state.\u201d Andersen said that continued development and loss of bird habitat is among the largest factor for mass bird die-offs. In Connecticut, the Macedonia Forest Block<\/a> in Kent offers the largest uninterrupted natural bird habitat in the state and is among the most important areas for bird migration, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge fisheries and coastal ecosystem managers to incorporate Osprey data\u2014reproductive success, diet, and population trends\u2014into decision-making. Ospreys are ideal ecological indicators. Leveraging their role as bioindicators can help transform long-standing fishery debates into transparent, science-driven conservation,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

The entire annual State of the Birds 2025<\/a> can be accessed here<\/a>. More information on the osprey population and the new study<\/a> set to be launched next year can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The osprey population in Connecticut, once considered on the verge of extinction has seen a remarkable comeback, but…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":369088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4749,3425,157896,19528,178115,17963,23292,178116,7000,746,43459,2824,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-369087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-audubon","11":"tag-birds","12":"tag-connecticut-audubon-society","13":"tag-connecticut-news","14":"tag-conservationist","15":"tag-ct-audubon","16":"tag-ct-news","17":"tag-environment","18":"tag-osprey","19":"tag-outdoors","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115525244884728813","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}