Why monitor ospreys? These fish-eating top predators are a sentinel species, serving as indicators of changes in water quality, climate, and fishery health. Changes in timing of nesting and number of chicks produced and fledged can reflect changes in the health of our aquatic systems. Since 2008, volunteers from the Sea Island Fly Fishers, the LowCountry Master Naturalist Association, Fripp Audubon, and Parris Island Natural Resources have observed and tracked osprey nesting in Beaufort County.

Near the end of 2012, LCI initiated a partnership with the College of William and Mary’s Osprey Watch program. All data collected have been input into an international osprey breeding database.