As Ospreys continue to thrive, Osprey Nation needs more volunteers to monitor nests. Help if you can!

Ospreys are starting to nest. The Osprey Nation monitoring project needs your help.

April 9, 2022 — Osprey nesting season is underway!

2022 marks the 9th year of the Osprey Nation monitoring project. The number of nests in Connecticut has grown to more than 900.

Ospreys are an incredible conservation success story but their growth means we need volunteers to help monitor nests. About 300 remain unspoken for.

Can you help by being a volunteer Osprey Nation steward?

There are unmonitored nests in 39 communities. We particularly have a need in the Greenwich area, Branford, Old Lyme, and Stonington.

If you have time to visit an Osprey nest once every week or so for about 20 minutes, please view the list of unmonitored Osprey nests below.

You can find them on the Osprey Nation map, here.

Monitoring a nest is simple and rewarding. More than 700 Connecticut residents have volunteered to do it over the years.

Osprey Nation stewards collect data on the birds’ nesting success and departure dates, and submit it via an easy-to-fill-out form. (We will train you and give you as much advice as you need.)

You will be contributing to a great conservation project, and you will also get the pleasure of closely watching a family of birds as it grows and thrives.

We enter your data on a map for everyone to view. Osprey Nation is a partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and we send the data to DEEP biologists.

Because Ospreys eat only fish, they can serve as an early warning system if problems occur in Long Island Sound or the state’s rivers and lakes. The information you send in will help us keep track of the Osprey population.

Osprey Nation needs your help!

Please email Bre Ellis, our Osprey Nation coordinator at osprey@ctaudubon.org, or fill out a nest sign-up form here if you’re interested in any of the nests below.

Thank you,

Beacon Falls # 4

Branford # 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 34, 37, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 52, 53, 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 72, 75, 76

Bridgeport # 5, 6, 7, 14, 18, 19, 22, 24

Clinton # 5, 25, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38

Darien # 2, 7

Deep River # 6

East Haddam # 3, 6, 10

East Haven # 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 14

East Lyme # 5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 32

Eastford # 1

Essex # 8

Fairfield # 13

Greenwich # 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

Groton # 4, 7, 8, 9

Guilford # 1, 3, 4, 5, 22, 25, 28, 29, 36, 42, 44

Hamden # 3, 6, 7, 12, 18

Lisbon # 2

Lyme # 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15

Madison # 3, 4, 8, 13, 14, 22, 25, 30, 36, 38

Milford # 6, 11, 20, 26, 27, 31, 34, 48

Naugatuck # 3

New Haven # 4, 9, 17, 18, 19, 23

Newtown # 1

North Haven # 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16

North Stonington # 2, 4

Norwalk # 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 34, 35, 38, 44, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54

Old Lyme # 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 52, 55, 57, 58, 62, 65, 66, 67, 71, 78, 81, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94. 96, 97, 100

Old Saybrook # 4, 5, 21, 22, 25, 30, 42, 47, 53, 57, 62, 67

Oxford # 1

Pomfret Center # 1

Putnam # 1

Stamford # 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10

Stonington # 2, 8, 28, 29, 36, 37, 38, 44, 47, 48, 57

Stratford # 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 18, 19, 24

Wallingford # 2

Waterford # 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

West Haven # 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

West Stafford # 1

Westbrook # 2, 8, 9, 14, 15, 18, 21