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Osprey monitoring shows low heavy metals overall but flags mercury hotspots near historic gold mines
Summary
Osprey researchers reported low levels of several heavy metals in chicks sampled across the Clark Fork and Blackfoot systems but said they detected notably elevated mercury in chicks linked to historic gold-mining tributaries; the monitoring program is being used to track river health and to inform state follow-up on mercury sources.
An osprey researcher who has led long-term monitoring of raptors in the Clark Fork basin described how osprey chicks provide a high-resolution indicator of river-borne contaminants.
The nut graph: because osprey chicks are fed on locally caught fish, their blood and feather samples reflect contaminants in the immediate aquatic food web. The researcher said monitoring over many nests shows low concentrations of the large heavy metals associated with mining remediation in most of the…
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