Jennifer Keats Curtis

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Osprey Adventure

Osprey Adventure describes the heroics of a boy and his biologist father who save a young osprey from certain death. Young Pete is concerned when he spies a trash bag in an osprey nest. He and his dad boat around the bird’s channel marker and learn that, not only does the raptor’s home contain trash, but one of the fish hawks has become tangled in fishing line and is gravely ill. This story is based on the work of a real hero, Pete McGowan, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Chesapeake Bay Field Office biologist, who has studied osprey for years. He believes that half or more of all osprey nests on the bay and surrounding rivers contain fishing lines, or similar cordage material. This story describes a big problem among these well-known birds of prey. Happily, ospreys are making a comeback after being nearly eradicated by pesticides in the 1970s, but fishing line and balloon ribbon have become serious threats to the well-being of chicks and adults. Early reader–ages 5-8.