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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.
Mornin’ Charlie 🤗. Enjoy your breakfast 🐟 🙌🏼
Is the cam going to be turned off for the winter or will it be left running?
Glenn, This juvenile arrived sometime before 8:30. It would be interesting to see if it brought the fish and if so was the fish was headless. Thanx!!!
It was Charlie!
this photo belongs on the hi-lites page. Thanks Glenn.
Great idea, Beverly – this one and others! When I have time, I’ll go through all of the screen captures that have been posted and add a photo gallery on the highlights page. Thanks for prompting that idea!
Many thanks to you Glenn!
Osprey in nest, eating a fish. Nice to finally see one before they head out!
9/3 5:25. Just checked and Charlie’s on his perch. No fish in sight.
Guess he wants us to see how much he has grown and how well he is doing before he starts on his journey south. Safe travels Charlie 🙏 💕
5:03 It looks like Charlie is back!
Labor Day Weekend. Traditionally the weekend the visitors leave.
I hope Charlie’s GPS is working and he’s on his journey to the next chapter in his life.
9/2/2022, 9:39 am, Charlie is perched on the frame of the nest.
9:12 AM. CHARLIE’S back and he has a fish!
He’s back again sitting on the perch
Oh no, gone again.
9/1/22, 6:37 pm, checking the nest. Charlie ?? has left.
Great day at the nest!!!!
When was the last time an adult brought a fish to.the nest?
Photo 4:24pm on 9/1
From the back of the ospreys head it sure looks like Charlie.
is that you charlie? hanging out in the nest at 2:58pm 9/1. feathers don’t look as white tipped.
9/1/2022 at 2:46 p.m. After taking a short rest, osprey has returned to eating what is left of the fish.
who
is this visitor?!
OMG an osprey in the nest.
12:58 Our friend shows up with a headless fish
Thanks for letting us know.
His head feathers look askew and a bit wet. 🙂
It has been a wonderful experience to watch these amazing birds grow & become beautiful birds. I notice so many ospreys in the Falmouth area . Love watching them. Thank you so much for taking the time so we can watch them all grow.
Facinating enjoyed watching the whole summer
Charlie loves his home!
One more favor I’d like to ask… the Friends of MNWR is currently a “Top Rated Nonprofit” on the GreatNonprofits website. To renew this status, we need 8 more reviews before October 1st. If anyone would like to help us achieve this award for 2023, please “Share Your Story” on the following website:
https://greatnonprofits.org/org/friends-of-the-mashpee-national-wildlife-refuge-inc
Thank you in advance!
Done! Thanks, Glenn!
Done! And thank you!
Just posted comments. Thanks Glenn!
Hi Glenn, posted my review…Many thanks for a successful Osprey season
Charlie came to pose for a photo and say “So long!” ??
Again, I still check the nest and I’ve seen not one osprey.
I always miss the visits too Joanne. I did get my osprey fix today though. I saw two today in other nests around town. Not the same as seeing our family though.
Me too
There were 2 ospreys in the nest at the end of craigville beach road
But they are not the birds we watched grow up
What? I missed it again.😟 Thanks for posting the pic Janet!
And he’s gone! It was a surprise visit! So nice to see one of them again!
Taken with a few other shots around 6:17 pm
Great photo!
….the chest markings….looks like Charlie, looking quite mature and self confidant now.
Great photo, Janet!
Checking in at 6:10 from Long Island. Is that Charlie out on the perch seemingly with lots to say 😉
Great photo Janet!
aug 30 2022 Osprey in the nest at 5:14 p.m.
Osprey on the nest at5:10pm. Doesn’t seem like Charlie, very reserved and business like cleaning his/her feathers.
Nice to see one again.
5:12 pm. Charlie’s on the nest
Before you all leave the site, if you’re not already on our mailing list, feel free to sign up at:
https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=swno5jebb&p=oi&m=swno5jebb&sit=svd54i9pb&f=4421bf57-fe7c-44e8-a6ad-3c1581143fc6
We’ll keep you updated on happenings with the osprey cam, upcoming events and other news.
Thanks again to everyone for contributing your comments, stories, questions and answers! It’s been a wonderful experience for me as well!
just did.
thanks
What a wonderful experience, thank you 😊 so until next year everyone have a safe winter ☃️ and chat with you all in the spring 🌷 Take good care, Marie
same to you marie, and everyone else in this “chatroom”. safe travels to all that will be heading to a warmer climate, stay well, enjoy your holidays and i also look forward to chatting with everyone for season 2 of the rachel & carson reality show.
joanne
Same here — best wishes to everyone in the “family” until we meet again next spring. And if any of you might be wintering in Florida, our ospreys don’t migrate and we have a LOT of them! Bring a pair of binoculars and you should be able to enjoy some great osprey and eagle watching before you head back up north. I also recommend our eagle cams all over the state which will be showing what life as a baby eagle is like, with eggs hatching as early as late November in south Florida and late December in north Florida where I live. 🙂
10:35pm Mon Aug 29
Camera working. No one home 😀 Charlie did it !
camera black saying error occured
Yes, our hosting provider seems to be having some issues. Stay tuned…
All was resolved a little while ago. Sorry for the interruption. Hopefully all we missed was an empty nest!
Is the camera having a problem? Black screen
I keep checking the nest and see nothing but I can see from others comments that some of you were lucky enough to see an osprey so I guess I won’t give up yet!
Does anyone know if the same mating pair return to the same nest next year?
IF Rachel and Carson both survive the two long migrations they have to make (6,000 miles in total!), they’ll meet up again in the Waquoit Bay area next March. And IF another pair hasn’t already laid claim to the nest platform R&C used for the first time this season, they should use it again. There are a lot of “IFs” involved, so we’ll just have to wait and see — and keep our fingers crossed that our special couple will return safe and sound to give us Season 2 of the Rachel and Carson Show!
Well stated, Claire. It really puts into perspective how wondrous it all is! One clarification, though – the nest platform has been there for several years, and we don’t know how long Rachel & Carson have claimed it as their own. So it probably wasn’t their first year at the nest. Hopefully many more to come!
Thanks for the clarification, Glenn. I misunderstood that “Season One” meant the first season with the nest cam and not the first season for the nest platform itself. I learn something new every day along with everyone else! 🙂
Good morning Glenn,
Is it possible for you to post under the highlights section Claire in Florida’s posting re: the facebook page with the osprey message to all of us? Thanks!