Nest Monitors Rock !!! Happy 30th Birthday!! Those were two of the slides in The International Osprey Foundation’s Kick-off Meeting presentation this January. All volunteers involved in monitoring the osprey nests on Sanibel, Captiva and Fort Myers Beach were invited. This was the Board’s first attempt in many years to gather together all the citizen scientists that help the Foundation gather nesting data locally.  And as it turned out, it was almost thirty years to the day that the first intrepid volunteers began gathering data for the Foundation.

It was early on a Saturday morning, January 13, 1990 to be exact, that a small group of eager osprey enthusiasts gathered for the first ever TIOF Nest Monitor training program. During the training, the observers were instructed in the behaviors that they would be observing during the osprey breeding season.  Exact physical descriptions of gender differences, as well as how to tell adults from juvenile ospreys, were included. All volunteers received a glossary of this information to keep. Significant milestones in the development of the youngsters after mating and incubation, as well as a nesting sequential timeline, were also included.

What followed the training of this little group has been going on now for thirty years, and the program just keeps on growing. (TIOF now boasts almost 50 volunteers.)

It can happen on a Saturday morning after meeting for a cup of coffee together or when the tides are right in the bayou, but teams of TIOF volunteers armed with binoculars, cameras and clipboards continue the work of their predecessors. Bi-weekly visits to hundreds of nests take place for the duration of the osprey breeding season, which usually extends from December through the end of May. By bicycle, car and kayak, the location, nest type/condition and, of course, the behavior of the birds, is carefully documented. Summaries of the nest data have been submitted to the Foundation each spring, and published in our newsletter every year. This year, in addition to these practices, TIOF has joined an international database called Osprey Watch. The data collected from now on will be added to this database which provides important information to The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and their counterpoints abroad for consideration when making policy decisions. Our data can also be a big help when CROW needs to re-nest a chick into a foster nest.

While the 2020 season turned out to be more challenging than most, due to Covid-19, the TIOF nest monitors were still able to keep an eye on our favorite raptor’s “goings on.” Seeing all those baby chicks...new life among so much sadness due to the pandemic, was good for the soul,” remarked one nest monitor. And on that we can all agree.