Life is hard when you’re an osprey. Not as hard as it was before 1972, when we humans used the insecticide DDT, which made birds’ eggshells thin and threatened the populations of ospreys, bald eagles, and other birds that dominate the tops of food webs. But hard enough, as this cam—which is in “reality TV” mode—shows from Kent Island, Md.
Less than a month ago, a third chick was born to the osprey pair nesting on the TV. Thousands of people check the camera daily, hoping to see the bird whose name was voted on by viewers, à la “American Idol,” fly one day. As the third chick born to these parents, his odds aren’t good: If mom and dad can’t bring back enough fish to feed the whole nest, his older siblings will dominate and he’ll starve. That’s how reality is when you’re the last-born osprey chick in the nest.
The greatest threat to the osprey family is probably a human-made one. In order to survive, the birds need a place to live and get their food, just like we humans do, but conservation efforts in the woods and waters in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are still short of goals that would support homes for millions more people over the next decade.
And while many landowners establish conservation easements on their properties, many do not. When the US banned the general use of DDT in 1972, it admitted a need for conserving species of birds who keep populations of other organisms in check. The birds themselves don’t stand a chance of overpopulating, since the natural reduction of their population when the chicks are young makes sure of that. Their population can’t outgrow its available food.
But birds are somewhat of a canary in the mine, an indicator of the overall environmental health of regions on the planet. Another way of saying that is, what’s good for this osprey family is good for Maryland.