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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.
Carson just brought in a fish, but Rachel wasn’t interested. He flew off after awhile and came back without it.
Very exciting news, and hard to keep up with all of the activity! I just posted a video on the highlights page of the first egg hatching and Rachel moving the shell to the side. So far, there are only brief glimpses of the new chicks as mama sits on them most of the time to keep them warm.
Proud and protective parents. Carson ever vigilant.
Baby pic
Another just hatched! Must be difficult keeping newborns warm/fwed and other eggs warm at same time
Just saw the baby! Any chance I saw 2? Rachael just moved an empty shell.
Hey I saw the wee chick too
Oh my gosh, I saw the wee chick!
Oh Judy, Rachael just moved and I saw the baby. Hope you saw it too!
Waiting for Mom to move..would love to see the chick
21:59 saw the chick. Mom got up to look at he/she
looking at the nest at 8:41pm and I believe that you can see the discarded egg shell at the upper right portion of the nest.
She is such a good mama!
7:45 PM – Carson was sitting on the eggs and stood up for Rachel, the two of them looking at the new baby!!! Is that the eggshell over in the far-right corner? I hope it is, and that it’s not an egg somehow?
i was thinking the same thing
7:31 pm, May 23, Rachel gets off the nest and I can see the first-born! Rachel is now eating a fish.
Carson arriving with dinner!
6:55 pm Carson saw his firstborn.
Now he is engaged in serious nest rearranging behavior
Aw, cute little baby!
She just stood up to rotate the eggs. There wasn’t any chicks in the nest just eggs
carson-you’re a daddy! come home with a gift for rachel
1815 — Wish we had the audio. Looks like she is calling for attention from her mate? Fish needed or just a birth announcement to Carson?? 🥰
Adult moves eggshell away from center of nest. Time 1811.
omg!! looks like one egg has hatched. don’t know how to post. i took a screen pic.
Yup! Finally ☺️
Me too!! It just kinda broke right open after she kept messing with the eggs. I knew she knew something was about to happen. Carson!! We need a fish soon!!
carson showed up about 6:50pm stayed for about 5 minutes looked like he brought her a fish.
First fledgling hatched. Time 1756.
Something may be up? She is really working at nest this evening and moving / jostling those eggs about quiet a bit more than usual.
It just hatched!!
4:50 pm
Think an egg hatched
Couldn’t get a good view
No now i see 4 eggs…
Around 8:30 AM, Carson brought in a stick. Two minutes later, another one- then the two did a little home improvement before Rachel took off and left dad to egg sit.
8:24 am 5/23/22…and the rope gets moved once again.
6:28 pm
Carson brought Rachel a fish .
She flew away with it and he sat on the eggs:
carson has been spending more time with the eggs-switching off with rachel. could it be because it is hotter? they seem to be panting.
osprey watch
That piece of rope has been re-positioned in the nest many times.
10:29 a.m. Sunday, May 22. Carson brings Rachel an early lunch and she flies off to enjoy it. Carson sitting on 4 eggs.
Some interesting Osprey facts….
http://individual.utoronto.ca/ali_naqvi/osprey.htm
Note: Canadian site
9:05 am Carson has egg warming duties.
With all of our faithful nest watchers, I’m sure we’ll know the instant the first egg hatches. It should be any day now! Thank you all for watching so diligently!
8:05 Rachel back on the eggs.
Carson brings a fish to Rachel who accepts it and flies off to have a peaceful supper. Carson now minding the eggs. 7:47 pm May 21, 2022.
A wonderful opportunity to watch first hand. Wonder how they protect themselves in bad weather?
Or maybe it’s Carson