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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.
Is Comcast maintaining the camera?
if so, they may fix this issue…..
(It looks better today….)
Who would’ve thought that the camera would need windshield wipers…!
I think it was the middle child that did it…that chick should be named after a famous cowboy or something.
Not a cowboy name, but I think “Squirt” would be apropos. 🙂
Lesson learners on camera location for next year!
When the audio is added hopefully the camera will be repositioned at a higher el vat ion👍
This is our nest and camera. With the hood over the camera, I think it is unlikely mother nature is going to help us. The Mashpee Fire Dept has a 35 foot ladder on a truck. They might be able to fix this without a fire hose. I think if we are going to see any more of this nest, someone has to go up there – now or after migration.
what is covering g the lense? i cannot see them?
one of the little ones decided to poo on the camera lens. There is a link to the amazing event below somewhere
6:20 pm June 17
Daddy brought home the bacon, so to speak… a nice fish, head on.
6:20, Carlson just came with a fish!
Bummah 😎
A bucket truck and Windex. Lol.
the little one is in camera view-now
Here is a link to a nest on Conanicut Island in Naragannsett Bay. At this point the lens is poopfree.The lens on this nest is about 6 ‘ above the nest.
http://www.conanicutraptors.com/creek-nest-webcam/
Well that didn’t help. Just looked at it and it is raining there with drops of rain on the lens and it is all blurry LOL.
That was just the first few drops. Big storm is coming in about 10 minutes. Fingers crossed!
I am about 8 miles away and the sun is shinning here.
Here is a cam closer to home. https://www.ccmnh.org/Osprey-Live-Stream
Excellent one! Thanks, surferboy.
THANKS so much for the post, surferboy! I’ll switch back and forth between the two cameras, hoping that our Waquoit Bay cam gets rained on soon to (hopefully) wash away the poop. The female adult in the CCMNH nest has a spectacular necklace! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such a fine one as hers! 🙂
Thanks for this info. I did take a look at the Brewster Osprey family. The 2 chicks are so young! Remember when “our chicks” were so small! I have to admit I feel related to the Masphee family and hope to continue watching their progress after the rain storm arriving soon!
Glenn, Maybe the fire department would come out and spray the lens for us. Or, try Comcast. Tell them our reception is lousy.
We’re going to have to wait for Mother Nature to take care of it. The nest is over 40 feet high, and any attempt to spray the lens with a high pressure hose could disturb the nest and would actually be unlawful. It could also dislodge or move where the camera is aimed. We’re hoping today’s predicted storms will wash it clean!
👍 😃 Absolutely the best option. The chicks could be swept out of the nest by a fire hose!
Thanks for those links Gary!
Perhaps someone with a fireman’s hose can clean the camera lens?
I thought of that, but figured it would probably upset the osprey. I hope we get the showers this afternoon and the rain washes it off.
I agree. This whole viewing event has been an incredible gift. We should let Mother Nature take care of the camera lens.
After almost two months of daily viewing I need my clear view osprey cam look in! 😂
I will keep checking in on this family since they are just a few miles away. But there are others out there with similar aged chicks.
Found this family in Oxford, Ma. https://www.earthcam.com/usa/massachusetts/oxford/?cam=oxford_osprey
Here is another family in Delaware that are a bit older. The DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor. https://youtu.be/jiSk280bMX4
Thank you so much, Gary!
I don’t know about everyone else, but I can’t seem to see any of the comments anymore. Also, will the visitation of that second female osprey be added into the highlights? I saw the screenshot of it, but I’d really love to watch the video of her spending time with the family. I wonder if she’s also the same osprey as before, and if she’s a big sister of those babies!
Jacqueline , try going to the Home page and clicking on Osprey Cam. That should bring you to the current page and comments. 🙂
I just posted the video of this (see the 6/13 visitor clip). My guess is she is the big sister and probably 2 years old.
I can’t see crap…oh wait, yes I can…haha
Thanks to Glenn, Sandy and everyone for all your comments. Glenn, that bullseye poop video was spot on…oops, another bad pun..
While we wait for the next rain (which hopefully will clear the camera lens!), if anyone wants to see the “shot,” it’s on the highlights reel.
Ha ha ha! The look on mom’s face when the baby poops. It’s like a shocked parent when the child does something embarrassing.
One thing I have learned from watching the poop shoots: never, ever stand underneath an osprey nest.
😂 😂
Here’s a food for thought comment I’d like to throw out to the group (while we’re waiting for rain and a clear camera view again). Most of the people watching this nest identify the two big chicks that keep attacking the youngest one as “he-s”, and the little one as a “she”, but I’m of the opposite opinion. With raptors, females are always larger, sometimes as much as twice the size of a male partner. It’s known as “reversed sexual size dimorphism”. Rachel’s larger size and weight give her an advantage when defending her eggs or chicks from avian predators (which is her job, not Carson’s)– and she will fight to the death to protect her young. I think “Big Boi” and #2 are most likely females because of their much larger sizes compared to tiny-by-comparison #3 who is probably a male. With ospreys and eagles, it’s the female that’s the “bully” — both as a first born chick, and later as an adult who rules over her male partner — and woe unto him if he dares to cross her! 🙂
👍
Rachael laid each egg Two days apart so the first chick is almost a week older than the last chick so male or female the first is stronger than the last. I do hope the lens clears so we get a better view when they start flying, I don’t want to miss any of it😍
That’s what he thinks of us! Hahaha!
If you’re wondering what happened to our view, I was watching at about 9:30 this morning when suddenly one of the chick’s suddenly relieved itself directly into the camera lens. Anybody else catch this?
I missed it but I new it was a matter of time before it happened. I hope it clears, I enjoy watching them.
9:26am and Big Boi decided to end the home viewing until the next good rain storm.
I knew it was only a matter of time before somebody’s aim took out the camera until a good rain storm.
so that’s what that smear is!! HaHa
Missed that shot! Rain coming 2am-8am Friday to hopefully clear the lense!
Sigh, it was just a matter of time I suppose. I’ve watched a lot of “poop shoots” in the past couple of weeks that came close to getting the camera. I hope it rains SOON before the poop gets baked on!
Carson swooped in with large fish 6:37 am June 16
12:13 am June 17
Chicks are sleeping and Rachel is standing nearby.
Oops that should be June 16th.
Yay Little One!! You are pushing your way up front to be fed!! And mother Rachel is feeding you as much as you can take, as well as your siblings! I am feeling hopeful that this chick will survive in spite of the odds.
Today they are being taught to eat by themselves at their 5:00 pm feeding.
Just is amazing!
I missed it today, but yesterday, they were occasionally picking at the fish and picking up dropped pieces.
How many fish does an osprey eat in a day?
10 fish
They feed the chicks and protect them from predators and cool, wet weather. The male is the sole provider of all fish for the chicks before they can fly. This means that males have to catch up to 10 fish each day for the female and the chicks. Carson certainly isn’t meeting up to 10 fish a day maybe two or three I don’t understand why he isn’t meeting up with them
To his credit, he has definitely picked up the pace in the past 3-4 days, a couple of times even bringing in more fish than the chicks and Rachel could eat. I think Rachel read him the riot act and he got the message!
Size matters…Carson has brought back some big fish. He has to eat too….
This is over the top, but that nest could use a little housekeeping!!!!
Where did the comments go?
Hmmm, this is weird. Two people have mentioned this, but when I look, everything is still there. When you scroll down (or click the comment image on the left), is nothing showing up?
I see what the problem is Glenn. Remember how the page length was changed?
Well when you come to the site from an old link which points to say page number 20, nothing is there.
They need to come in from the home page to the Osprey cam..
Thanks, Sandy for figuring that out!
Sure, Glenn.:)
(That was my job)
what happened to all the comments
Are you seeing them now Ellen?
How are the nestlings doing? Is Carson still bringing food to Rachel and the chicks?
They’re doing fine, and Carson is doing his job keeping everybody fed.
Yes Karen. All 3 are well fed.
Carson has been bringing more fish and larger ones.
Reading the article about bird siblicide took my breath away. I was horrified. I know it is Nature’s way, but now when I look at Little One, I don’t have the hope that he will pull through and surprise us all. I feel sad. Need time to sort this.
Yes, it is hard to digest, Anita. Wish we could swoop in and remove little one, but I know, sadly, it must occur all the time.
Since, beyond all odds, the little one has been strong enough to make it this far, it’s very likely he’ll survive to fledge. If osprey chicks are anything like eaglets, the vicious “bonkings” from the first to hatch should end soon, though the youngest one will continue to be reminded that he’s at the bottom of the “pecking order.
i also have faith that the little one will make it. my worry is that they’ll get too close to the edge before they are able to fledge.
When the two older chicks start vigorously exercising their wings, the little guy will hopefully lay low in the nest so as not to be knocked over the edge of the platform. Our nail biting worries won’t end until we see successful fledges. We can do nothing in the meantime but watch, wait, and hope for a happy ending!
Great angle to view Rachel preening feathers with Pygial gland.
7:14 am 6/15.
Carson brought breakfast at 5:40 all three babies ate well !!!
Looks like Rachel is deepening the nest to allow more resting place for her babies. More room to snuggle in for the night.
Wow learned alot. This explains what we are painfully watching with the daily attacks. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2009/03/22/ecoviews-some-birds-take-their-siblings-out-of-the-picture/27793585007/
Tiny new wing feathers are poking out of the downy wing tips. How much the chicks have grown since hatching. Lots of fish! Their wings look enormous to me, long, compared to their bodies, just like their parents.
Yes they grow so fast! Once they start learning to fly, you will see that they really take time adjusting to their large wingspan
Carson returned with a big fish at 8:30pm and Rachel is ravenous, but feeding the larger chicks too. Plenty of fish for all.