by Mary Reid Barrow

A little good news from our osprey world for a change!

The chick, raised by an osprey male that appeared to have glaucoma and its mate, has fledged on the Lynnhaven River!

Reese Lukei, who monitors the osprey population on the river for The Center for Conservation Biology at William and Mary, was lucky enough to be at the nest site along the Western Branch to witness the event and take these great photos. It was the first osprey that he knows of to take wing on the river this year.

“The nestling took to the air with the assistance of a southwest gust of wind at 8:10 this morning flying from his nest 100 feet to a nearby boatlift,” Reese wrote. “His dad was watching from his favorite tree in a nearby backyard.”

Resee, working with the Virginia Aquarium, banded the young osprey on June 2. Earlier in this spring’s monitoring activities, he had noticed that the male at the nest had “bulging red” eyes. He consulted several eye experts to reach the conclusion that the condition was probably a form of avian glaucoma.  See Nature Notes.

The youngster’s fledging was a success in two ways. First, because the adult with its bad eyes could have had problems finding fish for its young, and second, because the youngster fledged in a year when there was an overall decline of young osprey on the Lynnhaven.

“It was a dismal year on the river for the success of osprey nests,” Reese said. “This was the only chick to survive in its nest. Of the 42 active nests that we monitored this season, 29 failed. And there were no nests where all the eggs laid successfully reached fledging age.”

The upshot is the 2026 Nestling Production Rate per nest was the lowest ever recorded for the Lynnhaven River, he said.

Across the Chesapeake Bay the scarcity of menhaden fish, a favorite osprey source of food, has been blamed for poor nest production, but in the Lynnhaven and nearby ocean, fish seem plentiful, Reese said. He is more worried about predation on the eggs and young, mainly by crows, but also eagles. Even a mink has been photographed raiding an osprey nest on the river.

In the meantime, we can hope the newly fledged chick and others who also fledged will return next year to nest as scientists look for reasons and solution.

P.S. Nancy Warren also has just seen a happy outcome for the Cox High School osprey nest. “I am happy to report that the osprey chick (only one this year) has successfully fledged!” she wrote.