Capn’ Message: Ospreys Keep Trying

(Photo by Ron Bailey)

Message from the Cap’n is a compilation of fishing advice, waterman and weather insights, Chesapeake lore, and ordinary malarkey from the folks who keep their feet wet in the Potomac and St. Mary’s rivers.

Looking around St. George Island, a mid-April morning shows about 40 nests under construction for the 2026 season. A Very Hopeful Sign! The birds are very frisky and are enjoying life around the Chesapeake.

During a spring nest count in 2022, 60 occupied osprey nests were observed in a survey. We even went so far as to proclaim St. George Island as the “Osprey Capital of Southern Maryland.” This success story was aided through the efforts in the residents themselves and through the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative. Many poles and platforms were erected to await our friends traversing the 77 parallel while returning to Maryland before St Patty’s Day. Hurrah, Hurrah!

The celebration was short lived, however, as the number of occupied nests with survivable chicks has steadily decreased. Last year, 2025, the nests failed to produce a single chick. This total loss has not been witnessed by me before. Birds would come, perform ageless rituals, have eggs hatching in the nests. Some nests would lose their broods. Yes, the wet spring weather played a part in the decline but more severe element such as lack of a constant food supply was worrisome also. But the total of loss of 2025 was never imagined.

This year perhaps will be better. We certainly hope that this is the case. And from the cries up and down Island Creek this week it is certain they are performing their rituals again.

To keep track of the Chesapeake weather, visit the Interpretive buoy system for our area and learn the water temperature and salinity as it fluctuates with the season. There are stations all around the Chesapeake.

The Cap’n

Till next time, remember “It’s Our Bay, Let’s Pass It On.”

To learn about tours and trips into the Chesapeake, keep in touch with Fins + Claws on Facebook. Catch up on Messages from the Cap’n Member Page. Please visit Cap’n Jack’s lore and share with your social media sites. Or reach him here: [email protected] or 240-434-1385.