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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.
Did the nest break away?
Yes. Nest and boards. Apparently the wind blew it. Glenn will try to post pictures later. See his earlier post.
See Sandy’s post from an hour ago. She has the link of it blowing off today about 12:30p.
Glenn, what is the estimated cost to replace platform?
Glenn, we all witnessed mating since their return. Do you know approximately the time frame from mating to egg laying. Wondering what they will do if egg is coming soon
Nest blowing away posted in Highlights…so sad! I’m really surprised platforms are not inspected each season.
Relieved no eggs or chicks in next…thank goodness!
Starting over?
Platform totally gone. Pic is last summer with Charlie
A pallet would make a good base to get through this year, then permanent repairs in the late fall.
Great idea!
I agree. Real good idea.
Oh my God the platform collapsed! I just tuned back in don’t know when it happened maybe Glenn can find that are poor osprey!
1pm 4/01 Rachel or Carson just came back
Thank you !!! Have access to a bucket truck or maybe the fire dept can help ? Go to it and good luck !!! I feel so sad for Rachel and Carson 🙏
This was awful . Part of platform is gone too
Did it blow away thi morning?
We’re scrambling to see what we can do as quickly as possible. I’ll post the clip when I can. 🙁
The female was on the nest when it blew off but I’m sure she is uninjured.
Sure she’s fine. I watched it live and she jumped off before it went over.
Time to rebuild the platform and get it back up so the birds can continue!
Oh no 😥
Oh no! Nest blown away!!! Also platform seems unstable too
Oh my God, I watched the nest blow off live.
Oh no! Is there a recording of this available anywhere?
Glenn can retrieve it and post it to the highlights
Where are the highlights located? I’m a newbie here.
12:30 nest blows away
Thank you Cape Cod Times for telling us about Season 2. And thank you Comcast for making the camera possible.
Really much better than last year. Love the addition of sound!
Clearly not an April Fools joke. Very cool, makes me want to be an osprey for a day!
Both on nest 8:50am
I recently watched …pbs.org season of the osprey. This was excellent, I recommend it. Now I’ll tune in to this webcam frequently.
Does the light stay on the nest all night?
This is amazing. Just started watching today. Watching Rachel shoo the males away was very interesting. Its night time, where is she now?
Does look as if the female is calling and searching… to no avail lately. There was mating behavior a few days ago, but no male recently.I’m hoping all is well.
what is going on at the nest?? Haven’t seen Carson for at least 2 days now and the female doesn’t look like Rachel. This female has a more speckled breast. Was the nest stolen away? If so why is there no male? Any one know what is happening Glenn Davis?? any perspective on this?
Carson has no real need to be in the nest at this point since he’s not the provider of food yet. Someone reported some mating behavior a couple of days ago. See previous posts for my thoughts about whether it is Rachel and Carson back this year. Based on my own comparisons and what is typical, I believe they are, but others may have different opinions.
Thanks. Now it looks like the camera has been moved back from where it was a few days ago. Strange things seems to be happening here beside s shooting poop at the camera lol
Rachel’s daughter, ?
perhaps it’s Rachel Junior.
After watching her for little while, the osprey currently in the nest (3/31, 3:35pm) looks like Rachel. Same markings; same mannerisms, habits, etc. and after I made a comparison to last years’ photos. She looks a bit bewildered, looking around and upwardly a lot and seems especially interested in the new camera or maybe I’m just imagining it all. It’s good to see her again. The male who drops by now and then, though, isn’t Carson and she lets him know it.
Sorry…I just do not remember last years female having a “heavy necklace” like the female here now. Please reply with your thoughts, pics from last year etc. T Y!!!!!
Photo of Rachel last June with chicks. Necklace looks pretty heavy?… Harder to tell this year with camera further away from the nest but at least hopefully out of range of the pooping squad!
I watch another camera that is set up in Providence RI of peregrine falcons…in the last 3 days, 2 eggs have been laid with 1 or 2 more to come. Do we have any tentative time schedule when Rachel will lay her eggs? (https://player.streamguys.com/asori/sgplayer/player.php)
Last year, the first egg was laid on April 15th.
Thanks Glen…obviously the two species are on a different schedule
Glenn, the board that sits left to right is loose. I saw it move the other night. Rachel was just on it and it actually shifted when she flew off of it. Nothing can be done?
We are keeping an eye on it while we look into options. Thanks, Karen, for your attentiveness. Do you happen to remember what time you saw it move?
If you can see my msg time, it was just before that, maybe 3:30p ?? I was checking in frequently from 1p to 4p today.
8:48pm Fri 3/31/23
Glenn, the right side appeared to shift when Rachel flew off from it.
If you will be checking the feed, the left edge popped up prior to 6:20pm Mon 3/27/23, my msg to you the other day.
Maybe related to the nest bottom opening up?
Will R n C do whatever they need to build a secure nest? or go elsewhere to start over? I think she knows it is lose 😄 if this is my eyes, please let me know 😁 thank you and you are welcome
has anyone seen Carson in the past say day and a half3/31?
I think he was on the next late last night.
How do we know it is Rachel and Carson vs one of the babies? Anyway to know?
It would not be any of last year’s offspring since juveniles typically spend their first full year down south and they would not be expected back in the area until 2024. Based on some views I’ve seen, I think the markings on the female appear to be Rachel, but it’s really hard to tell for certain. I haven’t gotten a good look at the male, but assuming that Rachel is the female, then the male would most likely be Carson since ospreys typically mate for life. A couple of viewers have noted that the birds appear smaller, but that is likely because the camera was moved further away. Also, if Rachel & Carson did not return, we probably would have seen a greater degree of territorial disputes over the nest.
Glenn thank you so much for explaining that. I have some students that watch the nest with me and they often have questions. Greatly appreciate the insight!
The heavy necklace and small size of this female indicates a different bird.
Rachel was a mature female who knew how to make the nest.
This bird left the center indentation unpadded. And had done very little stick rearranging.
She looks to be quite young.
Saw Rachel by herself 3/31 between 745ish to 8ish Whoopeee! Just sat on the nest chirping
It appears a hole has opened up in the bottom of the nest, and the birds don’t seem to be in a hurry to rebuild it before egg-laying time. Hope they do rebuild the floor.
Another osprey came. There seemed to be a fight as it appeared Rachel and Carson went after it. Then there seemed to be nothing much and the nest seemed to be a mess. Heard what appeared to be short sad chirps (I’m not an osprey lol) I watched for about an hour + this after noon (03/29) nothing but Rachel appeared but immediately left. I’m hoping I’m so wrong about all of this🥌🫠
So grateful to have the pleasure of viewing the Osprey again!
Rachel on nest waiting for Carson to show up.