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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.
I posted yesterday’s tug-if-war over fish. If you missed this one, check it out. Thanks to Lorene, Surferboy and Ellen for seeing this play out live and noting the times!
I second that- thx to Lorene, Ellen, surfer boy and glen! Awesome videos 👍❤️
Great videos! Just pure luck on my part and omg there was so much more then what I saw 😂😂 what a riot! Has anybody been able to actually tell the chickaroos apart? I guess Delta will fledge first 🤷♀️?
Thanks so much to ALL of you! I laughed out loud over the “foot work” between Delta and Rachel as they both pulled on the fish. We often see nature in its great beauty, power, wonder and even tragedy, but moments of delicious humor are rare. 🙂 Such a delight, this website!
Thanks and thanks for posting these. Was so fun to watch again too.
Oh wow – one of the chicks (or should I say young adults) sleeps like Rachel standing on edge of nest 😳👍😊
A better pic
That’s the first time maybe? I check in late before I fall asleep each night and haven’t seen that before. Thanks for catching that!
7/15, 18:52, 19:53, flew from one side of the nest to the other. So exciting to see them lifting up! 19:55:12 lifted up several inches.
I just posted this also – thanks for sharing the times!
One of the Oxford chicks is up and flying……won’t be long here
Thank you! Will look in to see them!
Is this chick female?
I noticed the chest markings.
I’m trying to figure out if the one that usually moves the sticks around the nest could be the female. But then again, I am not sure I can even tell the chicks apart!
Now at 10:22 Rachael, Delta and Echo all feasting on their own. What a fascinating past 20 minutes
Sat 7/15 at 10 am Rachael and child fighting over a fish she just brought it!! Boy what a struggle going on and the kid won!! What a spectacular sight!
9:57 7/15 Mama and baby have tugging fight over fish. Baby wins
9:58 ish Rachel came back to the nest with a fish. One of the chicks grabbed it, and then she had a tug-of-war trying to get it back. Pretty funny and at the end the chick persisted. Might be a funny video to post?
Oh – I wish I could have seen that one!
I won’t be able to post the replay until Monday or Tuesday, but I’ll definitely get to it. I want to see that one too!
5:10 am Thunder, lightning, rain do not deter flight preparations, wing flapping fun.
Just had a look at the Oxford nest……each youngster has their own fish and no parents in sight. These juveniles are at least a week older than those here at Mashpee.
https://www.earthcam.com/usa/massachusetts/oxford/?cam=oxford_osprey
This is so exciting to see! They are so close to flying.
I couldn’t tell what the intruder was. Another osprey? Or a bird of prey?
The intruder was another osprey that landed on the nest and was quickly chased away. I posted a picture of him below in Tim’s post just before he landed. Glenns video shows Rachel chasing him away.
👍
I posted some determined flapping and hopping around the nest by both chicks. They’ll fledge soon! Also, the intruder from yesterday.
It looks like all they need to get in the air is a steady headwind. Once they feel that extra lift I think they might go.
Lots of wing flapping and brief hovering by both Echo and Foxtrot!
Last year’s first fledge was 7/20.
FYI, the chicks are Delta and Echo. Foxtrot was the one of the chicks that didn’t make it.
My bad, sorry.
No worries! I just don’t want to confuse things when we look at the comment record next year.
3:30 One of the babies tests out their wings, then tries standing on one leg, with what looks like a couple lightning flashes in the background.
The chicks look so big.
The male eats the head of the fish then brings the rest to the nest
Dinner is finally served by Carson. He delivered a headless fish ! Rachel is happy after 2 hrs of calling out for him and scouring the sky. HAPPINESS IS FOOD 😁
19:27 ish looked like one of the chicks got a tiny bit of lift off with a hop
Rachel defending nest from random overhead Osprey. 7:45AM
The intruder was relentless
Hope we can get some video. Go Rachel… Could this be one of the chicks from last year?
Osprey “Magnificent” both sea & sky
2022 Charlie
Great screenshots! Thanks for posting those.
About 4×4. Adult osprey can have a wingspan of 5 feet, so the “chicks” really are almost full grown!
7/12 5:35 pm
Looks like one adult and one chick. Did the other chick fledge?
Never mind. I just saw the 2nd chick under Rachel (?) on the left.
Glen – what is TIA? Never saw that acronym before :-O
Thanks in advance.
Calling in unison.
Any idea what sex the chicks are?
Up too late. Rachel (or Carson) is a good parent, dozing while looking over Delta and Echo.
Very nice to hear all the good info. I was concerned for the chicks. Thank you.
Glen I agree with you . They are being weaned from their parents giving them independence with their maturity. That’s a very good point that you had giving them room to exercise or wings. Additionally, I believe by the parents staying outside of the nest that entices them at some point to join them out of the nest.
Regarding all of the “Where’s Rachel?” questions and concerns, I fully agree that there seems to be no reason for concern. Last year around this time, Rachel left the nest for longer periods. The chicks are still dependent on food from the adults but not much more, so Rachel doesn’t need to be in the nest 24/7. As they get ready to fledge, she may be giving the chicks room to spread their wings. Last year with 3 chicks we saw much more “bullying” behavior in the nest, which may have given Rachel more reason to hang around. The chicks’ rate of development has also slowed considerably and they may not need to be fed as frequently since they aren’t expending much energy. All signs point to successful fledging of both chicks in the coming week or so.
thank you Glen,joan
Greatly appreciate you sharing all this. Just curious, are the chicks able to defend themselves if needed? Or no need because adults are near by. Thinking eagles can be a threat , correct?
I think when and if needed, at least one of the adults is always nearby.
Have the chicks eaten this morning?
haven’t seen Carson and now Rachel is not in nest
Last Wednesday (7/5) I took my 19 year old twin second cousins to the nest. We saw Carson perched on a branch, in an approx 45’ tree, to the left of the nest (when facing the camera lens). This tree was ~100 feet from the nest. He keeping a close eye on us and surroundings! We also observed Rachel sitting on a branch in a tree very close by but out of camera range. She appeared very concerned that we were there and had circled us a couple times :-O
I saw all the posts earlier this morning about Rachel being gone, and then was watching the chicks around 530-ish this morning. They were spending a lot of time doing googlie head motions and looking at something that was probably on top of the camera so I bet that’s where Rachel‘s been. They also seem to being bothered by something in the nest, lotta head shaking and head flipping, last year there were tons of ants in the nest by this time. Also, I think they can get lice in the nests, so maybe Rachel’s taking a break from all that and roosting close by but not on the nest for the night? About 534 to 535 this morning I did see an osprey fly in and it looked like it went to the trees to the left. I don’t know if that was Carson or Rachel. But the chicks have seemed very calm throughout, so the parents must’ve been close by.
congratulations Rachel, you came home at 6 10 am this morning, stop staying out all night, love joan
😉
Is it Rachel?
She’s back … 😀
Listening I hear an adult Osprey very close to next & sounds like in one spot & not in flight. So maybe she is out of camera range…
That’s what I was thinking
Finally. Rachel returns