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To: Bluedot Living
From: Libby Buck, Conservation Science and Land Steward with Linda Loring Nature Foundation
Subject: Nantucket Osprey Watch: A Community-Powered Project
One of Nantucket’s favorite signs of spring is looking up and seeing ospreys overhead, circling above the marshes and harbors, their sharp whistling calls carrying through the air. Each year, they return to the same nests across Nantucket, picking up right where they left off.
In 2025, the Linda Loring Nature Foundation launched the Nantucket Osprey Watch, a community science program designed to better understand how ospreys are doing across the island. While ospreys are one of the most visible birds on Nantucket, there has never been a consistent island-wide effort to track where they nest and how successful they are year to year. The Nantucket Osprey Watch was created to bring those observations together into one shared dataset powered by the community.
The program is simple by design. Volunteers monitor nests and submit short observations, called nest checks, throughout the breeding season. These nest checks might include whether a nest is active, if the adults are present, signs of incubation, or whether the chicks have hatched and eventually fledged. Each observation, on its own, is a small piece of data, but together they build a clearer story of osprey activity across the island.
In its first season, the response exceeded expectations. With the help of volunteers, we documented 50 nest sites across the island. Of those, 40 were active, and together they produced 40 fledglings. In total, the program logged over 240 hours of observation time. These numbers represent an incredible contribution from the community and provide an important baseline that we can build on year after year.
What we are already seeing is encouraging. Ospreys on Nantucket appear to be doing well and nest success is closely tied to the availability of safe nesting sites. Some nests are on human-made platforms, and others are still tucked into dead trees across the island. Food availability is also a big piece of the picture. Nantucket offers a wide variety of fish in its ponds, harbors, and coastal waters, giving ospreys consistent foraging opportunities throughout the season.
At the same time, this is only the beginning. Long-term monitoring will allow us to track trends, understand challenges, and identify changes in nesting success over time. Questions about food availability, weather impacts, and nest site competition will become clearer as the dataset grows.
One of the most important aspects of the Nantucket Osprey Watch is that it is open to everyone. You don’t need to have a background in science or birding to participate. Volunteers can choose to monitor a specific nest with a brief weekly check, or contribute more casually by reporting observations whenever they come across an osprey nest. Both approaches are valuable, and every observation adds to the bigger picture.
There is also something uniquely rewarding about following a nest over time. Watching the progression from courtship to incubation to chicks peeking over the edge creates a connection that goes beyond a single sighting. You begin to notice patterns, behaviors, and individual differences, and in doing so, you become part of research itself.
As the program continues to grow, we are always looking for more volunteers to help. More participation means better coverage, stronger data, and a deeper understanding of how ospreys are using our island.
All it takes is looking up and taking note of what you see. On Nantucket, the story of the ospreys is unfolding every year, and it’s something that anyone can be a part of. Click here to participate.
