Cafe Scientifique

Thursday, October 29, 2026, 6:00-7:15pm EDT
Title: Our Chesapeake Osprey Are In Trouble …What’s Going ON???
Speaker: Thomas Guay, River Rat & Founder, Eco-Ed Endeavors
About the Talk: The Chesapeake’s osprey are in trouble—but why? In 2025 and 2026, Eco-Ed Endeavors documented a startling decline in reproductive success among osprey nesting along the Severn River, using field observations, drone imagery, and rigorous recordkeeping. I’ll take you onto the river with me, show you what we found, and explore what the evidence may—and may not—be telling us.
About the Speaker: Thomas Guay is an observational scientist, an environmental educator, writer, sailor, and founder of Eco-Ed Endeavors, a field-based Chesapeake science program that puts students and volunteers to work collecting real environmental data. He was a board member and program manager with the Severn River Association. During his 14-year tenure, Tom created the organization’s certified water-quality monitoring program, tracking dead-zone and algae-bloom activity, and created its Floating Classroom program, giving students hands-on experience studying water quality, underwater grasses, oyster restoration, and osprey behavior. A former Capitol Hill reporter and longtime Chesapeake sailor, Guay combines hands-on fieldwork with a storyteller’s interest in explaining why science matters. (Ask him about Tycho Brahe!). Tom is also the author of the historical novel, Chesapeake Bound, published by McBooks Press. It’s the first book in his Sailing To Revolution series, set in the Chesapeake on the eve of the American Revolution.