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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.
Tuesday 7:03 AM Rachel flew off, returning with a large stick to shore up the edges of the nest, creating a playpen for the soon to be rambunctious chicks.
Monday May 30, 10.03 pm
Can see what it appears to be ants occasionally going through the nest!
Maybe carrying out small pieces of fish that dropped during feeding!
May 30, 7:12 pm. Over the last 12 minutes or so, both Rachel and Carson are leaving the nest and returning with additional sticks. Seem to be shoring up the outer edges of the nest.
I know there have been some questions about the viability of the 4th egg. The time span between when the the first and last eggs were laid was 8 days. The first hatched on May 23rd, so 8 days later would bring us to an expected arrival date of 5/31. Due to windy conditions today, Rachel has been protecting the chicks more than usual, so there haven’t been as many clear viewing opportunities. So it’s too soon for concern, but hoping to see the final chick emerge in the next day or so!
clear view of the nest this a.m. with carson keeping watch and rachel feeding the 3 chicks. the egg is still unhatched
Fingers crossed!
May 30, 11:27 am, 3 babies enjoying lunch!
Lunch time 11:30 AM
Early bird special for breakfast! Roughly 4:52 AM
5/30 at 2:01 AM, you can see Rachel sleeping…and right next to her head is one of her babies’ heads, sleeping right next to her. So ridiculously cute!!!
Not an excellent screenshot, but still, here they are!
Have the eggs hatched?
Getting more and more difficult for Rachel to nest/cover the little ones. How long does she need to try to cover them?
Did the fourth egg hatch yet?
good views of the 3 babies at 7:30am as rachel and carson fortify the nest. 4th egg is still unhatched. is it still viable?
Waquit chicks are so much bigger/older than CCMNH chicks
2:47 pm, May 29th, Rachel leaves the nest, Carson is now feeding the chicks.
2:36 PM, appears that Rachel has been eating the fish. Cannot see if she is feeding the chicks. Carson is blocking my view. Carson flies off and returns at 2:35 pm with a smaller fish and is now having his meal.
Then, proceeds to totally block the camera for the feeding …. ‘Carson, you’ve got to be more aware of the Audience view’!
2:14 pm, May 29th, Carson arrives with a good sized fish!
Thanks for that comment James. Yesterday I watched a feeding time and it looked like the older chicks got more and I was worried. Phew, glad that is not the case!
It appears the youngest chick is being feed regularly. Mom knows best!
Rachel needs a bit of well-deserved sleep. So peaceful to see her close her eyes, yet ever watchful.
8 pm Carson brought dinner!
Please leave the sound off.
What happened the chirping sound?
You can scroll down the page and click play. It’s no longer set to automatically play the sound recording, but I can re-enable it if most people want.
i vote for leaving it off unless activated. Thank you Glenn!
Keep it off please – it’s easy enough to turn on
is that the 4th egg that has not hatched yet ?
2:25 pm nest unattended
Rachel returned after several minutes empty -taloned. No food for the chicks. 😢
1:19 Rachel left
Rachel left the nest. I think she went to get lunch. The chicks are on their own.
A jogger keeps running around a loop passing underneath the nest disturbing the second Osprey sitting on the side of the nest causing it to fly off.
There is another active nest (song bird) bellow the Osprey nest . The entrance and activity was visible when the nest was smaller. This is common!
11:58 am May 28, Carson is in the nest.
He was just here.
11:41AM Carson back with more fish 🙂
11:30 Carson brought large fish. Dinner time.
9:50 am Feeding time,,,,,!!
I’ve read the males can be tending more than one nest, perhaps Carson is busy?
9:34 am …Rachel Calling for Carson
9 :22AM. Babies are all alone. Where are mom and dad?
Has anyone seen Carson this morning ?
I saw him between five and 530 this morning. What I noticed this morning and yesterday he seems to be holding up his right foot when he’s standing on the nest has anyone else noticed that?
does anyone know if the 3 babies are chirping at this point. If not, about when will that happen?
12:57 – Feeding time for babies. Mom gave most of the fish to the oldest, but the picked up pieces that had been dropped and gave them to the youngest one.