Anyone who has driven the roads of Chautauqua County in recent months likely noticed piles of sticks accumulating on several utility poles, cell towers, and designated platforms – especially in open areas around Chautauqua Lake. If you were lucky, you may have seen the head of an Osprey peeking over the edge, as she sits on eggs waiting for the next generation of Chautauqua County Osprey to see the light of day. Even though Osprey have become a regular sight here in recent years, we should not take for granted the conservation success story they represent.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Osprey, as well as other avian top predators such as Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons, had virtually disappeared from North America. Widely touted as a “miracle cure-all” after World War II, the widespread and indiscriminate use of DDT in agriculture and around the home resulted in devastating losses to our native wildlife, while rendering many of the pests that were meant to be controlled resistant to the chemical…
Contaminated insects were eaten by insectivores who, in turn were eaten by larger predators. In this manner, harmful chemicals moved through the food chain and accumulated with every step, reaching their highest concentrations in top predators. Fish, in particular, accumulated DDT residue acquired from food in their fatty tissues. This disproportionately impacted Osprey, since they survive on a strict fish-only diet.
The insecticide residues that worked their way into the Osprey’s body over time did not outright kill them, or even make them sick. Instead, these chemicals interfered with the birds’ calcium metabolism and caused their eggshells to thin to the point that eggs would collapse under the weight of the breeding parent. So, for some time, observers noticed nothing wrong: Osprey were still around, and were going through the motions of reproduction, but there were no babies to replenish the species in the future… Fortunately, public outcry, passionate testimonies from people like Rachel Carson and Roger Tory Peterson, and a shift in national policy led the US to completely ban DDT in 1972 (it was around this time that the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act were established as well).
Ever since these environmental protections were put in place Osprey started a gradual recovery, but only after their population reached an all-time low. At that point, eastern and midwestern Peregrine Falcons were completely gone, and the western US populations had declined by more than 90%. Although Peregrine Falcon numbers are currently quite robust, all Eastern US birds are descendants of captive reared and subsequently released individuals. Likewise, Bald Eagles were down to slightly over 400 nesting pairs country-wide in the early 1960s. Now there are well over 300,000 Bald Eagles in the lower 48. A spectacular comeback and a hopeful sign that we have the power to make dramatic positive changes to our environment, once we get our collective minds to it.
For now, we can all enjoy seeing the results of these efforts. In fact, the young Osprey hatched this year should have all fledged in the past week or two, so for a brief period we have more Osprey around than any other time of year. Soon though, the adults will start their migration south: female Osprey will head to South America, while the males winter in the Caribbean. The parents will actually leave before the young do, and the newly fledged Chautauqua County birds manage to find their way to tropical regions on their own. The parents will converge on the same nest they have used before sometime in late March or early April of next year again. Hopefully to raise yet another generation. Their kids will not be back here for 2-3 years but will be looking for new Osprey real estate then.
Several of the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s preserves host active Osprey nests and we are in the process of acquiring additional wetland habitat nearby to better protect the resources these majestic birds need to maintain a healthy population here in Chautauqua County. CWC board member and avid nature photographer, Jeanne Wiebenga, has documented the life and times of one of our active nests on the Loomis Bay-Goose Creek Preserve in Ashville since 2021. Her amazing photographs, supplemented with stills and video from our remote-controlled Osprey nest cam, are currently on display at the Atheneum Hotel at Chautauqua Institution. Our preserves are open to the public & Jeanne Wiebenga’s exhibit will be on view into the fall. I hope you enjoy our seeing our Osprey and the incredible message of recovery and environmental resilience they represent as much as we do!
Twan Leenders
Ecological Restoration Manager
Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy
twan@chautauquawatershed.org
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