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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 wonder who is the visitor this morning?
When Rachel finished feeding the gang, I noticed her rubbing her beak on one of the branches. Does anyone know if that is sharpening method to keep her beak sharp and clean?
It’s called feaking and they do it to clean their beak after eating.
Thank you Carol. Figured there must be a reason for it. I have observed the birds at my feeders at home do the same thing.
Always amazes me how quickly the chicks grow!!
Hanging out peacefully
Human emotions!
Glen thank you for mentioning human emotions with wildlife.
I have been engaged wild life since youth and have had the same emotions myself.I would like to share a general observation I have developed over the years.
Mother Nature as we know her is the personification of nature and nurturing it in the form of a mother or goddess . When we view an occurrence that we do not understand or are disagreeable with it we blame her.
The success of a species survival in relation to their own gene pools helps us better understand the circle of life.
A gene pool refers to the combination of all genes (including alleles) present in a reproducing population or species. A large gene pool has extensive genomic diversity and is better able to withstand environmental changes.Inbreeding contributes to a smaller gene pool making the population or species less able to adapt and survive when with environmental changes.
If you read up about alleles genes and genomic diversity it helps us understand their contribution to the survival of their species as in the case of Kilo.
Very interesting. Good time for me to express a probably unpopular opinion. By naming the osprey, it encourages humanizing observations. I suppose it helps distinguish the different animals but in the end they are “wild” animals with “wild” behaviors.
You make an excellent point, Stephanie. When we first installed the camera on the nest, we debated whether we should name the birds at all. We decided a naming contest for the adult pair would be an effective way to get people more engaged in observing nest activity, behaviors and raising of offspring. We did this at the risk of having the ospreys sound like our “pets” which they clearly are not. Using the NATO alphabet for each year’s offspring gives us an easy way to track the order of the chicks and refer to them using identifiers other than 1,2,3 or a,b,c. We realize it is natural to attribute human characteristics to animals and to become attached to them emotionally. I don’t think there’s any inherent harm in doing this and enjoy this unique window into their lives, as long as we are able to view the larger picture that they, in the end, are wild animals and their behaviors reflect this undeniable fact. Thank you both for sharing these important ideas.
Thank you
Here’s pic to comment below
Incoming
Yummy 🐟
That should be published in a book! Definitely made into a photo for your wall!!
Second that! should have it printed & framed
You and Dena get the best shots! Thanks to you both for posting them 👍
It’s great we can all post pics through out the day/night Keeps us all connected with what’s going on with the family, happy or sad, being fed, some sibling battles, Carson’s daily catch, Rachel’s collecting of fresh greens & twigs. It’s fun to check in to see everyone’s pics & comments & joining in on the conversation. Especially helpful too when ya can’t be watching these incredible birds all day. You should screenshot & share…😉
Dinner is served
When mother is away “oh my” natural instinct to be the alpha when the true alpha is away, guessing??? Will make India & Juliet tougher, stronger…very soon they’ll all be going at to get more fish as they get bigger. Funny thing is after all that back & forth stuff, they all cuddle to sleep, now that’s precious 🥰
Outstanding action pic 🤗
yowza!!
Nice!❤️
Great shot!
Rachel brings in a twig and is a bit clumsy about its placement.
A twig? Lol it rather big! !!
Hotel up front being fed
Chicks not interested in fish, must have already eaten earlier. More interested in rearranging nest.
Carson brings breakfast
i think i saw all four babies
Thank you Glenn for the information. You are right about our human emotions. Rachel has been digging a lot into the nest below the chicks, could she be looking for Kilo? Oh bummer, the 4th chick did not survive this year either. I do feel better knowing his death was by accident, or so we think. Rachel brought in a lot of pine needles yesterday, maybe to plug holes? Thank you again!
feeding time
Break-fish 🐟
I am still wondering about Kilo and would appreciate it if Glenn would confirm that it was sibling abuse that killed Kilo because Rachel and Carson were doing such a fabulous job caring for and feeding all 4 chicks. These osprey have a 99.9% diet of fish and I am still befuddled about Kilo’s whereabouts. Why would the other chicks want to kill one of their kind at such a young age? I’ll assume if he did fall over that nocturnal animals would have eaten him (hate to think about that).So bummed 🙁
Raptors are known for sibling dominance & will do anything to survive. Be prepared for more of this behavior as they become older. I avoid watching Eagle nests for this reason. Osprey’s seem to be a little kinder believe it or not…the other thing is maybe there was something wrong with Kilo, all birds are known to push young ones out of nest. It’s all about survival. I really don’t think R&C did this because Kilo seemed healthy & very active…did you watch the 1st season with Aloha, Bravo & Charlie? That was hard to watch, but turned out fine, Alpha was the 1st to leave, then Bravo & finally Charlie. All of us who watched prayed everyday Charlie would make it & he did 😉
After searching through many hours of recordings, it appears that Kilo was accidentally trampled during an early morning feeding and was pushed through the bottom of the nest. This was not intentional, but rather pure survival instinct which took its toll on the younger, smaller and weaker of the chicks. We should be careful not to assign human emotions on the other chicks or the parents. The siblings just want to eat to survive. Upon a loss, the parents move on quickly; they have other mouths to feed. Their job is to do their part to ensure the survival of their species. Rachel and Carson have shown us they do this well. Let’s root for the other three to continue to thrive.
Thank you for going through all that footage…nature isn’t always pretty but when it is it’s truly amazing…we are all so fortunate to have Ospreys, they almost went extinct. Every day they fly over my house, making all kinds of noise & each time I smile knowing they are here & thriving. An Osprey landed in my yard this Spring with a huge branch, saw the dogs & took flight leaving the branch behind Amazing!!!
thanx Glenn for going thru the tapes so that we know what happened to little kilo. it is heartbreaking.
Glenn, thank you for getting to the root. It is unfortunate, but at least no more speculation. Rachel and Carson are doing an unbelievable job feeding their family!
I did start watching season 1 — probably in the middle of the first season and have been hooked on this bird species since learning/reading about Rachel Carson. We just took a bike ride along the Shining Sea Bike Trail and stopped to see the life size metal statue dedicated to Rachel Carson in Woods Hole, where we spoke with PhD biology students doing homework assignments about her!!
This is Charlie 🥰 the youngest of the 3 (1st season) he was so determined to make it. I remember Alpha Bravo & Rachel left & he was now the only one left, Carson kept bringing him fish but then he left too. Charlie spent his days sitting on the nest a lot, then the big day came when there was no Carson & Charlie came back to the nest with a fish. It was a glorious day. Finally Charlie was doing what Osprey do & then the day came he went to. I remember Glenn explaining he may have stayed at the nest to protect it…
❤️
Yup! Funny I just fell in ❤️ with him. Charlie actually taught me few things about life. My husband is a photographer, we have beautiful framed pictures hanging in our home
OMG – I just had an afterthought. Maybe Charlie could be the interloper that keeps swooping their nest. It is said that Osprey will not come back the first year, but will return the 2nd year.
I was thinking that also.
I think the very first Osprey who appeared on nest in march was Charlie, had that goofy Charlie face & markings…😃
😄 Dena, the other day I was wondering who took this picture. I liked it so much I took a screenshot of it when you first posted it. A great picture of “our” little survivor.
Happy you like it & saved, took screenshot 1st season…I love his funny expression
at least Rachel and Carson are guarding them really well
😟 so sad to read about Kilo missing. I hope Glenn can see what happened to him/her, and if anything happened prior to the absence that maybe caused the chick to want to leave the nest.
anybody see a feeding, or in fact, carson this morning?
Yes. There was a feeding earlier. The older chick was doing some rearranging of the twigs which I thought was cute. I tried to get some snap shots but you could not make it out.
excellent!! i saw the chicks doing the same. they’re definitely learning and also curious trying to peek over center of nest.
Another beautiful morning
We may never really know what happened to Kilo.
Truly grateful to have a peak into their lives. Following for 3 seasons, all Winter long I hope to see Rachel & Carson return in Spring
Here’s a pic with date/time stamp…arrows point to what I think I see are 4, hard to tell…can any of you tell. I’m limited to iPhone so can’t really say…
Just wondering… if there is a hole in the nest and the baby fell? I understand they didn’t find the baby below… just thinking…I wish a biologist would be able to go up to take a look in the nest….
Maybe Rachel (or Carson) inadvertently stepped on Kilo during their – what I call – unnecessary nest rearranging. They have both been doing that over the past several days. I don’t understand why they find the need to “twinkle toe” around the chicks to move the twigs.
I think as the chicks get larger R & C start to build up & expand nest…just a thought…
Same activity last yr & yr before.
My best guess is that the 4th chick (not sure which one) disappeared sometime between 11pm and 4am. At night they’re mostly underneath Rachel and when they are visible they’re a huddled mass and hard to accuratey count heads. I haven’t been able to even find a time when Rachel left the nest last night. I’ll look some more tomorrow. Very sad, but we knew from the start it’s very unusual for 4 chicks to all survive to fledge.
I think that was just a leaf or other nest material.
I was at refuge & saw the large screen TV, was amazing to watch, larger than life. I usually just use iPhone which hinders the viewing
I was working in yard when everything started & just thought just go take a look…there’s a path that goes right by nest. Went in real quiet & just stood still to watched for any movement or chirps nothing, then looked up at underneath of platform & surrounding trees. Knowing if found the little one I would not be able to touch being a protected species but I would place box over it & then let the wildlife people take it
I am pretty sure I saw one of the babies off to the left halfway to the edge. I don’t remember when or which one, but it seemed pretty clear.
very strange and sad. thanx to all who are trying to find kilo.
Osprey project went to look & no Kilo found. Also they did check video footage and only saw the three around 5am…
Please thank the Osprey Project for checking. I am so bummed it turned out this way.
On a side note and completely opposite to this behavior, I watched the Port Lincoln Australia Osprey nest over our winter months. The pair of chicks in this nest were like they hatched from the same egg. They were almost inseparable. It was such a pleasure to watch them grow and fledge.
I’m back and am looking through recordings. I’ve also been in touch with the Osprey Project. Will post anything definitive we learn as soon as possible.
Welcome back! So curious to know when kilo went missing & the cause.
That’s so cool, basically twins. The perfect nest. Thanks for sharing
Oh I Thanked them bunches…so grateful for all that they do. These people are the Osprey keepers & love what they do
Looks like there are only 3 chicks. The way the oldest kept pecking at the other osprey’s I am guessing he killed the 4th bird or wasn’t feed enough. Shame😱
Osprey project is going over to check in a few
Excellent. I hope there is good news!
I’ve been looking on and off all day and was hoping i was wrong in seeing only 3 chicks. Can’t imagine what happened, even the tiniest seemed to be doing very well🥲
Also, the nest hole is pretty deep to keep the chicks from falling out🤷♀️ and seeing as it was the youngest chick… its a mystery
On a lighter note, chimney Osprey are at it again
Came to refuge, looked around pole, spoke with a staff member too. They plan to look some more.
Watched big screen at visitor ctr. Definitely 3 chicks. So very sad 🥲
I hope Glenn can view this mornings video to determine what actually happen…
Watching this morning Rachel flew off the nest several times leaving it without parental supervision. She returned at one point with a very large stick. Is it possible she dropped it on Kilo, injured him and he’s still in the nest but buried down in the soft center? I don’t believe he was active enough to get to the edge and fall out. Such a mystery!
I saw her with that big stick covered in moss…do wonder if maybe kilo got hit & oops up and over…who knows
I really think I saw all 4 & Kim thought so too. Wicked curious to know