Welcome to the Official Newsletter for the Virginia Osprey Foundation!
Our Osprey Garden
Greetings!
I believe I can safely say that all of our ospreys have begun their migration. They will enjoy warm waters and mild temperatures in South America! Did you know that North American Ospreys travel up to 4000 miles on their migration? They face many perils along the way; weather, food issues, and human/wildlife conflict. Fifty percent of juveniles do not survive their first year of life and the ones that do will not return to their breeding grounds for two to three years. It is no wonder we all admire and hold this amazing raptor in such high esteem!
I am excited to announce that our Venezuelan friend, Luis, will be contributing to our website regularly with news about our ospreys migrating to and through his country. Please check out his article this month and welcome him to our website by clicking here. I look forward to having a bird’s eye view into their wintering grounds! I have included one of Luis’ pictures of an osprey above, could it be one of ours?
Good news about our nest cam. We have removed the camera from the Fisheries Nest and it is being reprogrammed by Traffic Systems, our benefactor of the camera. Please stay tuned for updates. We should be able to have the camera up and running well before our osprey return in the spring. We have identified one new nest to replace so far, that will be on Town Hill. Birds failed to nest there this season for the first time in memory. We believe by raising the nest and replacing it with a sturdy platform, they will resume using it again next year.
Our website has a new name – virginiaospreyfoundation.org. We have a new look and a new logo designed by Bob Lennox. Thank you Bob! Please take a look at our Advocacy Tab on our website to find out how you can help our osprey in the lower Chesapeake Bay.
Come and join us! On October 14 we will celebrate World Migratory Bird Day! This will be held at the Cooper Library in Colonial Beach. There will be goodies for the children as they learn about migration and how we can help our bird friends. Adults are welcome too, our library will have books available on this subject for checking out. We appreciate their support and being the host for this event!
Osprey Festival News
Save the date! April 13, 2024
In addition to our keynote speaker, Paul Spitzer, Michael Academia, Osprey Researcher from the Center for Conservation Biology, will be speaking as well as Lisa Barlow, a wildlife rehabilitator from Virginia Beach. As always, working to bring you the BEST festival experience possible.
Reminder!! We still have hats available for a donation of $25, Virginia is for Osprey Lovers T shirts for a donation of $10. We also have stickers available for a donation of $2.
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