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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.
so glad to hear that this worked out and thanx to all involved who took care of this.
Phew !!! Thank you Glenn and those involved for getting Rachel out of her predicament. I am sure her intentions were for good, but the possible outcome would have been devastating!
Bye bye bad plastic
Hallelujah!!!
Thank you to whoever took the bag away
Carson delivered a fish at 5:02 pm Sunday
Rachel returned to the nest at 4:58 when the truck departed. Thank you
The chicks are hungry.
Oh wow! I just saw a guy come in one of those buckets and take out the plastic bag! Thank you to Glen and whom ever did the task of doing that! Much appreciated!
Thanks goes to the Falmouth Osprey Project! Will post more details about the amazing work they do tomorrow
Thank goodness for the Falmouth Osprey Project & you too. Can’t wait to see your post
Made my weekend 😀🇺🇸
Thanks Glenn and many thanks to all involved in this resolution.
Hi Merc, did Rachel just leave the nest when the guy came
Yay for the guys with the cherry picker. The bag is gone. Sunday 4:50 pm
16:49 Rachel just flew off, exposing all four babies for us to see!
Baby!!!!
Has anyone seen Carson today?
Oh I saw a dead osprey on the side of route six, maybe it was him.
Yes saw him around 7ish & then again, not sure of time
Thanks. She flew off twice today, not sure if for food
Is that a piece of plastic on the nest?😱
Any reply from wildlife people?
Yes, I’m watching that nest also it’s in Florida on Captiva. It was amazing to watch and we all breathed easier when it was removed. I hope the same can be done here for these chicks ❤️❤️❤️❤️
As a former aerial bucket operator and viewing their flight habits you want to set up between the tree and nest. When you see them leave the nest you can observe that they leave in an open direction and glide down gaining speed before flying.aThey never fly towards that evergreen tree.
Two pruning pole saw lengths with a hook on them would make things pretty safe. Doing this right before or at dusk when the birds do not usually fly will help.
Wear a helmet and heavy coat would help protect the exposed body in the bucket.
Most important is wearing your body harness that is attached to the bucket by a lanyard should you fall out.🌱
😀👍
4 chicks
Thankfully the chicks are not under it. A disguise?
Great view of four chicks
That plastic bag is making me nervous. Where is the wind when you need it. Rachel has pulled it over her chicks.
Wind may blow it out but let’s hope chicks are not wrapped up in it
Repurposing
Morning!
Fish delivery @ 7:14am
Not good
When Carson flew in earlier, no fish, he went right over to Rachel to visit for a bit. She got up and he Looked in on the chicks. It was a warm loving family moment, then Carson flew off. Maybe saying good night and he is close by 😊
Too risky to get close, I would think the parents might dive bomb the person to protect their kids. They are pleased to have four. Maybe a cherry picker parked a small distance away 🥴 with very long tongs. The birds are pretty smart. When it gets in their way, they’ll toss it. And I hope real soon before they get caught up in it.
I’m sure one typical Cape windy day will take care of the bag.
What May happen is if one picks it up with its talons they may not be able to get rid of it the same as a fish. Often you see it takes two.It could end up like fishing line wrapped around them.
On a lighter note, here is a pic from 7:18pm of Carson feeding Rachel.
It looks like Rachel is on the chicks & the bag is on the side, stuck on some of the sticks in the nest. I don’t think this is going to go anywhere unless someone removes it.
Thanks for contacting them. I’m so frustrated that now we just sit watch & pray
This is terrible!!! hoping & praying 🙏
bag doesn’t suffocate chicks! Nasty human trash has a huge impact on our wildlife. Wish someone would do something real soon. Any chance the fire dept would use ladder truck to get rid of it? I understand Osprey are protected so their in danger & I see no protection 😡
17:21 Sat May 25 the bag is in the nest, next to Rachel.
Yes, it sure is. Maybe she will tear it up like it is a big branch and stuff into the holes. Catch of the day if she thought it was a big fish!
Come on wind 🤞🙏 blow off the bag !
Never mind, it is. Just read back.
Is that a black trash bag hooked to the nest?
I am pretty sure something happened to the fourth chuck. It was only fed once that I could see. I hope I am wrong, but now there are only 3 chicks with their beaks up.
I see all 4 eating 😉
4 babies being fed now
All together feeding
hi glenn- i tuned in at 18:40 and rachel was feeding all 4 and carson was watching. it was a great view. would you be able to post the video? thanx
sorry 13:40 not 18:40
i just saw that!! 🥰
Four chicks?
Wow that’s truly amazing and it looks like the weather and ( apparently) there is good fishing so far this year on their sides! Herring……. long may you run 🐟🐟🐟🐟 😊. Hoping for good natured chicks and that they have hatched close enough together that we won’t have a repeat of the Alpha vs Charle beat downs from season one 🤞🤞🤞. Go Ospreys!! Happy Memorial Weekend to all.
feeding time
It’s amazing to be able to watch this in real time. The whole family together, with the new chick.
At 7 AM Rachel brought a big black plastic bag to the nest and tried bringing to the center but then gave up on it!