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Fishing Nets Were the Most Abundant Visible Human-made Material in Six Osprey Nests in Mexico

Two ospreys on a nest with visible plastic material in Belize
Conservation · Threats

Fishing nets were the most abundant visible human-made material in six osprey (Pandion haliaetus) nests studied around Todos Los Santos Bay in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Rope or cloth was the next most common category, while plastic was also present.

The researchers tested a non-invasive way to estimate visible material from drone images. Seven videos were recorded outside the nesting season between August 2023 and January 2024, only when ospreys were absent from the nests, and the authors reported no disturbance incidents during the flights. From the videos, 160 still images were selected for automated analysis.

Drone images showed where human-made material accumulated

The deep-learning system separated the visible nest surface into natural nest material, fishing nets, rope or cloth and plastic. Fishing nets were the hardest material category for the model to outline accurately, even though they were the most abundant human-made material in the manually labelled images.

Study figure showing segmentation of fishing nets, rope or cloth, plastic and nest material in osprey nests
Segmentation of materials in the studied osprey nests. Figure 8 from Verdugo-Siqueiros et al. (2026), Multimedia Tools and Applications, CC BY 4.0.

The five nests closer to the coast contained more fishing nets and rope or cloth than the nest farthest inland.

Chart comparing manually labelled and model-predicted inorganic material in six osprey nests
Manually labelled and model-predicted proportions of inorganic material in the six studied nests. Figure 7 from Verdugo-Siqueiros et al. (2026), Multimedia Tools and Applications, CC BY 4.0.

Transparent debris remained difficult to measure

Transparent and semi-transparent plastics were especially difficult for the automated system because their boundaries had little contrast and were further obscured by shadows and overlapping nest material. The model could often detect that debris was present without mapping its full visible extent accurately.

The study did not test whether debris reduced breeding success

Earlier monitoring of the six nests from 2018 to 2020 recorded an average of 1.5 chicks per nest per year, but the 2026 study did not test whether nests with more debris produced fewer young. The authors instead present the method as a rapid way to identify nests that may need closer inspection.

They propose using more than 50% visible human-made material as a practical trigger for possible nest cleaning and follow-up. That threshold is a management criterion, not a demonstrated biological limit at which osprey breeding success declines.

Sources and image credit

  1. Verdugo-Siqueiros, R. D., Pellegrin, L., De León-Girón, G., Pérez-Hernández, H., & Gonzalez-Fraga, J. A. (2026). Fast assessment of debris in osprey Pandion haliaetus nests using deep learning-based image segmentation. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 85, 66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-026-21248-zPrimary peer-reviewed article. Published and version of record 1 February 2026. Open access under CC BY 4.0; Figures 7 and 8 are reproduced in the article body.

Image: Jerry Kirkhart / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — two ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) on a nest in Belize with visible plastic material in the nest, photographed 23 April 2008; illustrative photograph, not from the Ensenada drone study. · CC BY 2.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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