Osprey Flyer, Volume XXXIV, July/August Edition 2026

A Message from the President

Summer is flying by, and the Virginia Osprey Foundation continues to stay busy with opportunities to educate, engage, and advocate for the future of our beloved Osprey.

We hope you'll join us for two exciting events in August! On Saturday, August 15, we'll have an educational booth at Colonial Beach WaterFest. Stop by to learn more about Osprey, their importance to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, and the conservation work being done to help them thrive.

Then, on Sunday, August 16, we are honored to host a special screening of The Last Osprey, the powerful documentary by Bill McKeever. The film tells the compelling story of the challenges facing Osprey today and why protecting these magnificent raptors has never been more important. We hope you'll attend and invite your family and friends to this meaningful event.

In this edition, we are also pleased to feature our first guest writer, Michael Academia, Science Advisor to the Virginia Osprey Foundation Board of Directors. Michael brings a wealth of scientific knowledge and a passion for conservation, and we are grateful for his willingness to share his expertise with our readers. We know you will enjoy his insightful article.

As always, thank you for being part of our mission. Together, through education, science, advocacy, and community engagement, we are making a difference for Osprey and the Chesapeake Bay they call home.

Thirteen Fish in One Day: The Nest of Hope

I have watched many ospreys bring fish to their nests.

Over the years, I have counted thousands of prey deliveries, studied provisioning behavior, and spent countless hours thinking about how food availability affects osprey reproduction. I know what an ordinary feeding day looks like. I also know what a difficult one looks like, especially in parts of the Chesapeake Bay where declining fish availability limits how successfully parents can raise their young.

Then came July 13, a day unlike any recorded here before.

Our Colonial Beach live cam osprey pair delivered 13 fish to their nest in a single day. Thirteen! My first thought was simple: "What in the world is going on with these birds? " This wasn't a productive morning followed by a quiet afternoon. Throughout the day, one parent after another arrived carrying fish. The chicks were fed repeatedly, and the total kept climbing. By the end of the day, we witnessed an exceptionally coordinated pair of parents. The female set the pace, delivering the first two fish of the morning, including an impressive striped bass. The male then took over, returning again and again with Atlantic menhaden. By day's end, he had delivered ten fish, while the female returned one final time to complete the day's remarkable total of thirteen: 12 Atlantic menhaden and one striped bass. For a region where food limitation has been linked to reduced provisioning, brood loss, and nest failure, this level of parental performance immediately stood out. The observation stopped being just an exciting number. It became a research question.

Are some osprey parents simply exceptional?

Most studies of osprey provisioning focus on averages. Researchers calculate the average number of fish delivered per day, compare successful and unsuccessful nests, and examine how provisioning changes when prey becomes scarce. These studies are essential because they help us understand how populations respond to changing environmental conditions. But averages can also hide some of the most interesting individuals. What happens when most osprey pairs struggle under poor feeding conditions, yet a small number continue to perform at an unusually high level? Who are those birds? What are they doing differently? Are they simply better at fishing? Do they coordinate their efforts more effectively? These are the questions that the 13-fish day raised for me.

The 'Overachievers' of the Osprey World

I've started thinking about these exceptional parents as the overachievers of the osprey world. Scientifically, I describe them as potential behavioral outliers - individual birds or breeding pairs whose performance falls far above what would normally be expected within a population. That doesn't mean every osprey can simply "try harder."Decades of research show that parental effort has biological limits. When fish become scarce, even highly motivated parents cannot always raise an entire brood. Nestlings receive fewer meals, brood reduction occurs, and some nests fail. But natural selection doesn't operate only on averages. It acts on variation among individuals. Even when environmental conditions push a population toward reproductive failure, there may still be a small number of birds whose behaviors allow them to succeed where others cannot. Natural selection acts on variation among individuals. Even when environmental conditions push a population toward reproductive failure, there may be a small number of exceptional performers that continue to succeed. This Colonial Beach pair may be one of them.

The Record Is the Clue - Not the Conclusion

A 13-fish day is remarkable. But one extraordinary day does not prove that this pair is consistently exceptional. Perhaps fishing conditions were unusually favorable. Perhaps Atlantic menhaden became temporarily concentrated near the nest. Perhaps most of the prey happened to be relatively small. Or perhaps this was simply one unforgettable day that never repeated itself. That's why the next step isn't celebration. It's systematic observation, an opportunity to collect more evidence.I want to examine whether this pair consistently maintains unusually high provisioning rates across multiple days and throughout nestling development. I also want to compare its performance with other nests observed under similar environmental conditions. The important question isn't whether this pair delivered thirteen fish once. The question is whether they consistently occupy the extreme upper end of the provisioning distribution. In other words, was this a lucky day, or are these truly extraordinary parents?

Looking Beyond the Average Osprey

Much of our attention has rightly focused on population decline, food limitation, and average reproductive success. But I'm increasingly interested in the birds hidden inside those averages. There may be behavioral outliers whose fishing ability, coordination, or parental strategies allow them to outperform neighboring pairs facing the very same ecological challenges. If those exceptional individuals consistently produce more surviving offspring, they could contribute disproportionately to future generations and help populations remain resilient during periods of environmental stress. We don't yet know whether that's happening.

And that's exactly what makes this so exciting! One remarkable observation has opened the door to a much larger scientific question: "When environmental conditions are pushing an osprey population toward reproductive failure, does natural selection leave behind a small number of exceptional performers?" The Colonial Beach pair delivered 13 fish in one day. Now, I want to understand why. Fortunately, this remarkable nest has been monitored every day throughout the breeding season by an outstanding team of citizen and community scientists. Every fish delivery has been recorded, video clips have been archived, and an extraordinary dataset now exists. Sometimes the most important scientific questions begin unexpectedly.

They begin with an observation so unusual that you can’t stop asking why. In science, extraordinary observations don’t end a story. They begin one.

Michael Academia holds degrees in Biology and Fisheries Biology from William & Mary and Cal Poly Humboldt, and is an award-winning researcher specializing in osprey ecology, Atlantic menhaden, and Chesapeake Bay ecosystem health.

His research has been featured in The New York Times and the Chesapeake Bay Journal, and he has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on osprey conservation. Through research, education, and outreach, Michael works to advance science-based conservation and stewardship of Virginia's aquatic resources.

---

Colonial Beach Nest Update

11 active nests (we started with 37)

19 chicks

At least 4 chicks have successfully fledged!

Nest Cam Update

For those of you who regularly enjoy watching our live Osprey Nest Cam, we sincerely apologize for the technical difficulties we've experienced over the past week. Our computer could no longer keep up with the demands of continuous live streaming, but the good news is that new equipment is on the way and should be installed early next week.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Traffic Systems & Technology for their outstanding technical support and for generously providing the new computer that will get our live stream back up and running.

We know it has been frustrating to miss watching our Osprey family, and we truly appreciate your patience and understanding. We can't wait to have you back at the nest very soon!

Watch live here:https://www.youtube.com/@virginiaospreyfoundation (Click on “Live”)

Help Us Continue Our Work

The Virginia Osprey Foundation is able to carry out its mission because of the generosity of supporters like you.

From nest monitoring and educational outreach to nesting platform maintenance, recycling programs, and the Virginia Osprey Festival, your support directly helps protect Osprey and the Chesapeake Bay environment they depend on.

If you enjoy following our Osprey, attending our events, or supporting conservation in our community, please consider making a donation to help us continue this important work.

Every contribution—large or small—truly makes a difference.

Thank you for being part of our growing conservation community.

Donate and learn more at: www.virginiaospreyfoundation.org

Virginia Osprey Foundation

Protecting Osprey through education, conservation, science, and community engagement