May 03, 2004
Ospreys & the Chesapeake Bay
Nest Update: A quiet week on the nest with much incubating going on. The weather has been good, and if all goes as planned, we should see the first egg hatching around mid-May.
Pic of the Week: Norman Porter has our Pic of the Week. He sent in several good photos showing the parent ospreys turning the eggs -- something the parents do often to keep the eggs evenly warm and to prevent the membranes of the embryos inside from sticking to the shells. Be sure to visit the Gallery to see more interesting shots sent in by our cam watchers.
As Blackwater Refuge is located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, one cam watcher wanted to know a bit more about the Bay and its role as prime osprey habitat.
With 11,684 miles of shoreline, the Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the U.S. and one of the richest in the world. Fresh water from over 100,000 streams and rivers combines with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean to create an ecosystem that provides vital nurseries and homes to more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals -- including 29 species of waterfowl, 348 species of finfish, 173 species of shellfish and over 2,700 plant species. Every year, one million waterfowl winter in the Bay area as it is a major stop along the Atlantic Flyway.
Ospreys -- which are found on every continent except Antarctica -- are especially successful around the shallow, fish-laden waters of the Chesapeake Bay, which has the largest known population of nesting ospreys in the world, with some sources estimating the number at over 2,000 pairs. In the past, osprey eggs from the Bay area have even been transported to other states in order to build up dwindling populations.
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is located on the eastern shore of Maryland, in the heart of Chesapeake Country, and covers about 27,000 acres of the Bay watershed. Over the years, Blackwater Refuge has played an important role in helping ospreys, eagles, and peregrine falcons recover from devastating population declines due to the eggshell-thinning effects of the pesticide DDT, which was used extensively in America during the 1950s and 1960s. Bay-area ospreys began to rebound after the 1972 U.S. banning of DDT and the reversal of the Coast Guard’s policy of dismantling osprey nests on channel markers.
Throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the competition among ospreys for prime nesting spots is intense, so Blackwater Refuge comes to their aid by providing ospreys with numerous artificial nesting platforms, abundant shallow fishing waters, and protected habitat in which to raise osprey young.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster (contact)
Submitted by Norman Porter