OSPREYCAM
The 2026 Virginia Osprey Festival in Colonial Beach, Virginia
Meet Our 2026 Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Richard (Rob) Bierregaard
Dr. Richard (Rob) Bierregaard is a research associate of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia and president of the Raptor Research Foundation.
From 1979 to 1988, working for the World Wildlife Fund and the Smithsonian Institution, he directed—in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon—the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, which has been described as the largest and most ambitious ecological experiment ever undertaken.
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Upon his repatriation in the late 80s, he taught in the Biology Department of UNC-Charlotte and returned his studies to his true passion—birds of prey.
His work over the past three decades has focused on Barred Owls in Charlotte, NC, and Ospreys in northeastern North America. In 2014 he was the lead author on a paper chronicling the post-DDT return of the Osprey population in southern New England. From 2000 to 2017, Rob and his colleagues deployed satellite transmitters on 108 Ospreys, from South Carolina to Newfoundland. The data from 67 juvenile Ospreys, tracking their first migration to South America and back, have provided startling insights into how naïve Ospreys discover the migration route taken by virtually all adults.
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In 2018 he published his first children’s book, Belle’s Journey, a narrative non-fiction account of a young Osprey’s first migration to southern Brazil and back again. Belle’s Journey received one of two Honorable Mentions in the 2018 National Outdoor Book Awards' Children's Division, was placed on the National Science Teachers' Association list of outstanding trade books for 2019, and was listed in the University of Wisconsin's Cooperative Children's Book Center's Choices 2019.
Dr. Ann-Marie Jacoby
The Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project (pcdolphinproject.org) is a nonprofit research organization based out of Georgetown University with the mission to better understand and protect the Tamanend's bottlenose dolphins of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.
Dr. Ann-Marie Jacoby is the associate director of the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project and a postdoctoral associate at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on reconstructing the historical occurrence of dolphins in Potomac River and establishing a baseline of their current occurrence in the region using interdisciplinary approaches.
Will Poston
Will Poston is a lifelong fisherman, hunter, and conservationist, who has leveraged these passions for a career in conservation and fisheries policy. He currently works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as its Forage Campaign Manager, primarily working on menhaden issues in the Bay. In this role, Will serves as CBF's point contact on menhaden, coordinating the organization's advocacy, policy, and education efforts around this critical forage fish.
Will's background as an avid outdoorsman and experience in fisheries management assists his work to build a broader group of effective and passionate advocates to promote much-needed menhaden conservation and awareness here in Virginia. Will can be reached at wposton@cbf.org.
Romaric (Remy) Moncrieffe
Policy Manager, Marine Conservation
Romaric (Remy) Moncrieffe is the Marine Conservation Policy Manager for the National Audubon Society. His focus is on promoting a healthy marine ecosystem, particularly fishing regulations, wetland and estuary protection, and the expansion and creation of marine national sanctuaries and marine protected areas. Remy is located near Washington, D.C., and works to engage the Audubon network in ocean conservation.
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Prior to joining Audubon, Remy studied fisheries policy and aquaculture in the European Union. There, he led research on microplastics and their effect on bivalves. Remy has a B.S. in Biology from George Mason University and a joint M.S. in Aquaculture and Fisheries Policy from the University of Nantes, University of Crete, and Scottish Association for Marine Science.