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Welcome to “Season Four” of our osprey cam! Carson arrived on March 20th, 2025. Get ready for another exciting season of osprey viewing at the Waquoit Bay Reserve, brought to you by the Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge
If you’d like to show your appreciation for the nest cam, please Support the Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge! As a nonprofit volunteer organization, we support a wide variety of education, research and stewardship projects within the Mashpee Refuge to ensure the long-term protection and enhancement of native wildlife and habitats.
Thank you in advance!
We are thrilled to offer this live stream of an active pair of Osprey at their nest at Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The pair are appropriately named Rachel and Carson, after the famed environmentalist.
This opportunity for a bird’s eye view of a beloved bird’s habitat is the result of a collaboration between The Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge, which helped plan and locate the site for this unique “nest cam,” the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, one of the Refuge partners, and Comcast, which generously provided the equipment, installation and broadband connectivity to power this viewing experience.
One of our goals as a community-based nonprofit is to give the public opportunities to enjoy and interact with nature and wildlife. Thanks to Comcast, the live streaming of this osprey nest will broaden our reach to all of Cape Cod and beyond. We are grateful for the opportunity to use the live nest cam for observation, research and education purposes.
View highlights from 2025 (“Season Four”)
View highlights from 2024 (“Season Three”)
View highlights from 2023 (“Season Two”)
View highlights from last year (“Season One”) – mating, egg laying and hatching, feeding and more!
Please feel free to comment below with your observations or any questions you may have. We welcome your comments and questions! If you’d like to see a list of questions other viewers have asked, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Ospreys and the Nest Cam. You may also want to read this article to learn more about ospreys on Cape Cod.
Please note that first-time posters must be approved before comments are displayed, and allow up to 24 hours before your initial post can be seen by others.
I see 2 eggs in the nest today but am unsure when newest egg arrived. Anybody know?
The 2nd egg was laid on 4/12. The 3rd egg is due today.
huh- looks like we lost the camera as well as the sound. message says live stream is currently off-line
never mind- sound and pic working
I restarted the system which disabled the video for a few minutes. Both audio and video are now working – phew!
He arrived with something better to eat. She accepted it and flew off with it. Mr is sitting on the eggs now
Finally he arrives with a bit of breakfast. She gives him the “look”. Is that all you got. So he leaves and takes it with him.
At 8:12 Carson brought back a nice fish tail and Rachel wasn’t the least bit interested at all – hmmmm. He flew off with it at 8:18. He came back at 8:31 with same fish tail and flew off seconds later with it!
He brought another offer of breakfast but he flew off again with it. She must be a picky eater
No audio. Monday April 14 23:30
Is anyone else having trouble with the audio?
Yes. It’s been out for a while now – maybe 4 hours.
Yes, I have no audio either
Good pic of the two eggs
the family
❤️
and the countdown for #3 is on. Hope it’s today since the weather is so nice 🙏🤞
They normally lay an egg every three days, so the third would be expected late tomorrow, 4/15.
During the day, the eggs are well-camauflaged, but at night they seem to glow in the images recorded by the infra-red camera. Here, Rachel takes a short break from her nightime sleep and we can get a clear view of the two eggs. Will we see another in the next day or two? (Reminder, there is no light shining on the nest, only infrared light which is invisible to both birds and humans, but can be captured by the camera.)
Gee they almost look like alien eggs – just kidding but they have this glow about them 😂
Gee – at 5:37 I thought Carson was going to bring in something for Rachel to eat but instead it was a quick mating and he was gone! Rachel stretched her wings and back to her being such a diligent mom!
Carson did come back at 5:43 for a quick minute and then flew off. I’m hoping he’s getting a bite to eat for Rachel. She must be getting “peckish”!
rachel you are such a good mama caring for your eggs in this crappy weather without a break. but have you eaten lately? i’ve heard an osprey in the background but haven’t seen carson.
At 8:32 Carson came in with a fish tail and wow did Rachel go after it. She took it and flew off – a well deserved break – and Carson took over incubation. She came back at 8:43 and resumed her incubation 🙂
thanx for letting me know. i hadn’t seen him and am glad he brought her a fish and gave her a break
She laid the 2nd egg, 4/12… @ 18:44:43
Fantastic! Congratulations to Rachel. Unfortunately I can’t rewind back to that time. I feel so bad that the weather is so windy and raw outside. It was 3 days ago when Rachel laid her first egg.
Hi Merc. I posted it to the highlights. Looks like we’ll be getting more of the same conditions today. Rachel is doing a great job of perservering in this weather and doing exactly what she needs to do!
Thank you!
Thanks Carol! I was watching most of the day hoping to see it happen live, but missed in the evening. Great catch – it was hard to notice with the rain on the lens. It’s posted on the highlights.
You’re welcome, Glenn. I have learned how to spot the time when an egg is coming by the female’s behavior. It was a bit hard to see through the raindrops, though, as you said.
Is that a second egg at 6:47?
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Buried in snow, protecting egg