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Welcome to “Season Three” of our osprey cam! 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 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.
rachel has been gone from the nest for over 5 min at 4:23pm 6/9 two of the chicks have gone to the edge of their secure nest and it seems to have tired them out. oh good rachel is back, but no fish and no carson. looks like they’d like dinner. the egg is still in nest and gets pushed around.
3:45 p.m. Carson – the chicks are hungry!
2:56 pm June 9, checking on the family. Rachel and 2 chicks are busy grooming themselves while the 3rd chick is fast asleep.
Osprey specific Preen gland
https://ospreytaleteller.com/2020/05/03/preening/
Sad. It really appeared that something was going on with the egg but today there was a clear view of the egg. Saw nothing but a a plain egg with no movement. 🙁
i will make a donation now too.
Interesting,
re: The Preen gland most all birds have.
https://www.kqed.org/science/1968261/what-actually-makes-water-roll-off-a-ducks-back
12:36 pm June 9, a soaked Rachel is feeding the chicks. She did a great job sheltering them from the downpours.
I want everyone connected with the Osprey Cam to know how very much I appreciate all you have done to provide us with the opportunity to observe our Cape Cod Ospreys. Today, as a way to show my appreciation I have made a second donation to the Friends group. Thank you all very much!
Nice Gesture Beverly,
I just did the same thing. June 9, 2022, the unofficial donate to the Rachel & Carson Family Fund
Day.
Joanne
Joanne, love your declaration of the “unofficial donate” to the Rachel and Carson Family Fund.
Beverly
Thank you Beverly! It has been wonderful experience for us as well, knowing that we have reached the hearts of so many loyal viewers and Friends supporters. The comments on the site tell such an amazing story and we truly appreciate all of the feedback, which is essential to helping us achieve our mission.
9:50 am June 9, Rachel is feeding the chicks. Looks like there is a break in the rain. It appears that each chick got their fair share of the meal.
6:52 am and in between heavy rain lines Carson brings in breakfast — lioks like another herring?. A third Osprey makes a flyby as he prepares to handover the fish to Rachael. Blurry with raindrops on the webcam.
All 3 chicks getting plenty of bites from what I’ve seen over the last few days. Larger and a week older siblings are more aggressive but I think she knows how to take care of the situation. They all rotated equally on this fish. Larger guy eating and then leaving the tight circle for more than a moment.
Next heavy front in about an hour so Carson better go get seconds quickly.
Gary, what is it you’ve circled in red?
Blurry fro rain on the webcam but if you can zoom in I circled the 3rd osprey (?) that again did a flyby on the nest. Several weeks ago a third bird would occasionally fly by and even land on the nest. Hypothesis mentioned was juvenile from previous years brood. Maybe even a third set of eyes on the nest by accident 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Thanks for the info, Gary! I couldn’t make out what the camera was showing with all the water on the lens. I’ll bet there’s a good chance it is a prior year’s offspring from this pair just coming by to see what’s going on. I’m new at osprey watching but have been an Audubon eagle watch volunteer in Florida for several years. Our nesting season was over several months ago, but now I’m totally captivated by Rachel and Carson and their 3 chicks! 🙂
By any chance, Claire, are you referring to Harriet and M15, the SW Florida eagles?
This morning the little one muscled in and got it’s share of fish. Feisty!
So happy to hear this Susan!
what type fish is this ? bass?
what is the fate of the 4th egg?
The youngest chick was not feed at the 8.15 pm feeding today. When the two older chicks were done being feed they got on the youngest one. Seems to me that we’re seeing the balance of nature the strong survive. With rain coming tonight into the morning the morning feeding might be a challenge! The youngest chick will take another step backwards.
the little one didn’t even try to get any food tonight. 🙁
To: Glenn Davis
Apologies for bothering you, but I have not been able to receive a live feed since Monday, 6/6.
Is anyone else experiencing difficulties?? Can you please offer any tech advice for troubleshooting?? I am not experiencing any tech issues other than no ‘live feed’.
Please Help.
No bother, Cole. We want the live feed to be as easy as possible for people to view. I’d suggest either refreshing the page or try closing and reopening your browser. If none of that works, you may need to clear your browser cache. If you let me know what browser you use, I can give you more detailed instructions if you need. Hope that helps!
Thanks Glenn …. clearing the Browser cache did the trick … never heard of that before … never was an issue; learn something new it seems like every hour!
sometimes it just sits black for a short time before loading and running
Annie, thanks for responding. No, this situation was a bit different … there was no running because I had no connection. As soon as I figured out Glenn’s advice as to how to clear my browser cache, I got live feed again; back in business!
6/8 at 4:17 another fish for dinner!
6/8 2:52pm Carson arrives w/another good size fish & Rachel is feeding the babies
6/8 at 12:18 The egg still looks intact to me. I only see 3 chicks. Can we have a professional opinion about the egg?
Hi Mary,
At this rate it is very unlikely for the egg to hatch. I am not sure what will happen to it as I have read various thoughts. It’s possible Rachel will get rid of the egg or eat it but at this point she’s done neither. So it’s a wait and see.
June 8, 11:53 am, Carson just arrived with a good sized fish!
Rachel has flown off after shielding her brood from the pelting rain. After watching Big, Middle and Little One do some kind of bird dance repositioning themselves in the nest, I see that part of the nest is hanging off the right side exposing the platform! Hope Rachel and Carson can shore it up again.
Hatched. Noticed at 10:30 pm 6/7.
The last egg hatched? I still see the egg. I can’t imagine that will make it. I wish
Carson brought fish around 6 pm. It was fairly small. None of the chicks seemed to hungry. They all got fed. Our little one had to push his/her way in. They all turned away pretty quick. Guess they were full.
You should name the chicks, Moe, Larry and Curly.
my thoughts exactly!
If the egg was going to hatch wouldnt she still be sitting on it?
around 2:00 pm this afternoon it appeared the chick was trying to get out of the pip
The babies are getting so big so fast!!!
Looks like the egg is going to hatch. Today around 2:00pm it appeared that there was movement.
Hoping for the best
I just saw Rachel feeding them and the little one made it’s way closer because it wasn’t getting fed enough and she fed her quite a bit. I’m overjoyed!🥰 She might make it!
Breakfast! I can’t get a good view, Rachel has her back to the camera.
Carson has the life. Rachel feeds and takes care of the chicks all day and Carson spends the day fishing. Every father’s dream.
Carson has a harder life soaring, searching, diving, missing, and being under stress to provide fish for his family. He watches them eat and if he’s lucky he might end up getting the last scrap.
Then he also helps to bring more nesting material to help shore up the nest for his growing family. It’s not easy being Carson…he’s a good provider.
4th egg
She does seem to favor the 2 larger chick’s over the small one when feeding.
She was feeding the what looked like a fish this morning.
Dinner time ! Carson brought a fish although partially eaten. Rachel is feeding each chick systematically and it seems little one has gotten a good share. They seem to be well behaved and waiting their turn. 🙂
June 6th, 7:17 pm. Observing Rachel who had left the nest for a short time and came back with what looks like green seaweed or some sections of vegetation and is now trying to place it in the nest without disturbing the sleeping babies.
Will these chicks be tagged?
They will not be tagged.
What an amazing treat at 3:40PM today. I saw Carson bring a fish which Rachael fed the babies with.She seems to favor 2 babies over the other one who had to really struggle to get some food.Thank you for this camera opportunity.
I am not going to take this personal, but earlier today, Rachel backed up to the camera, lifted her behind and took a shot.
Among eagle watchers, that’s called a “poop shoot”. Is that common terminology for ospreys? I’ve already seen the oldest chick let fly an impressive poop shoot that almost cleared the rails of the nest!
😆
Yay Carson brought a fish. 2:25 pm.
A beautiful family portrait with both parents feeding all 3 at 10:46. I’ve been referring to the chicks as Moe (the aggressor), Larry (the medium fuzzy one), and Curly, (the small one most picked on!) 🙂
I support that naming protocol … I just cringe every time that Moe beats up Curly.
I was hoping someone would name them. Good choice.
just now saw the third chick. 8:39 am.