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Welcome to “Season Five” 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 2026 (“Season Five”)
View highlights from 2025 (“Season Four”)
View highlights from 2024 (“Season Three”)
View highlights from 2023 (“Season Two”)
View highlights from 2022 (“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.
Where is the 3rd baby
It died several days ago and the remains are in the middle of the nest
This might explain the lack of feeding: “As the chicks approach fledging, their parents gradually reduce how often they feed them. The growing hunger encourages the young birds to begin seeking food on their own.”
That’s what I read too, plus they don’t need to be taught to fish it is instinctual, but guidance from the adults helps.
Debbie I agree with your remarks. There are certainly wildlife sanctuaries in which the creatures can be rehabilitated, possibly returned to the wild, or if not…certainly these surviving osprey could be used for educational purposes with trained wildlife officers. These fledglings are so close to surviving on their own and being independent, this seems cruel to do nothing when the rule of “no intervention” was already violated with the banding process.
For those who say we should help, this is what Glenn said a few days ago: “ To those who insist we should have done something, it’s important to remember that this is a wild animal living in a wild environment. No person caused this, and the folks who maintain the camera and the nest platform are not responsible for the birds’ conditions or their fate. The ospreys are not our pets and they aren’t cared for by people. Intervention only happens when something human-caused threatens the nest, like removing a plastic bag or other debris that doesn’t belong there. The chicks were banded this year for research purposes. Beyond that, the birds are left to live as wild animals, without human management or feeding. The camera was placed simply to provide a window into nature – and sometimes nature is difficult to watch. Thank you to everyone who cared so deeply. Moments like this remind us that the natural world is beautiful, unpredictable, and often beyond our control.”
Thanks for reposting this Annie.
Glenn also thought the chicks were all thriving!
I believe that was/is Rachel seems she wants them fledged and out of the nest for their own good. I had read online that adults may stop feeding to encourage that. Between 17: 24 and 17:44 yesterday a bird that looked like her did a quick touch and go and then a flyby with a definite come with me vibe. In the beginning of the second and third seasons (as I recall) I posted identifying photos of Carson and Rachel. I don’t have those photos anymore but sure they are on the feed. Rachel has a very distinct marking on the back of her head that looks like a bird flying. This appears to be her.
I think Carson has befallen an unfortunate event of some kind a while ago. I read online they will mourn their mate by coming back to the nest and just waiting and watching for them. That’s kind of what she has been doing. But regardless of the many possibilities suggested that might explain what is occurring here and as hard as it is to watch, I stay hopeful that all is not lost and these two will make it through this. We are privileged to have this window into their world even if it is tough to see.
Thank you for this. We’ve seen the oldest one fly out and then come back, I wonder if its coming back because the little one is still there and hasn’t fledged yet?
I haven’t seen the parents in a couple of days
Why is no one helping. If you found an osprey with a broken wing, would you get help for it.Or would you say that’s nature and walk away. How about putting the babies to a bird sanctuary and get them strong
At 9:58 am it looks like one of the parents came back and was trying to push the birds out of the nest. It’s becoming a very interesting day with a lot of activity.
Oh no. Is she the attacker ???
Now what. Is momma back ???
Now it looks like both are ok. Maybe the first one was just playing dead.
9:33, the oldest one just came back
Maybe contemplate “no banding” next year. That was human intervention and handling. Interesting to view research if parents start pulling away too early once human smell is on the chicks.
If you are just turning in, the missing chick wasn’t knocked from the nest. He flew off at 9:27, leaving the hunched down chick alone on the nest, but the attacks continue
Getting attacked again so oldest flies out. I think chick 2 may be dying
At 9:27:22, the oldest one, after repeatedly being attacked, flew off, came back, then flew off again.
Looks like they need to be rescued! I can’t watch anymore
This is just brutal to watch 🙁 It’s not looking good for the one that was attacked, it’s been lying like that since 9:09 and it’s now 9:22
Was that Carson that just defended the nest at 9:14?
Can they be removed from the nest and cared for if the parents are not around to feed them? So sad to watch 🙁
If all the osprey were banded, it would help us understand what was going on now. If the attacker had a band, we could tell if it was an osprey from a previous litter, from another local nest or one that just showed up this year from some other place. If Rachel had a band, someone could go out to the area and see if she was hanging around or has disappeared.
I dont see a parent defending them, so the attacker may be a parent.
Perhaps trying to end their starvation.
Here’s a photo of one of the attacks. This is awful.
Here’s a close up of the leg band on the one who gets attacked. Glenn. Can you tell which one it is.
Almost looks like no more free meals and the dive bombing are the parents’ way of trying to get them to fledge. “Now get out of that comfy nest and learn how to fish like the other Ospreys”.
The chicks are not sufficiently developed to fish on their own for a month or more yet.
in normal years , after the mother flies south, the father stays and provides fish for the chicks until September.
looks like the chick was grabbed this time. I wonder if there is rivalry between the osprey in this nest and others that are close by. It’s still flying by at 8:23. I wonder if this attacking osprey got Carson and then Rachel?
Oh no! 7/10/26….8:07… Chicks being attacked on the nest!
here is where the chick was knocked to the side
At 8:05 ish this morning , other osprey dive bombing and trying to knock little ones out of nest .
the time when the chick was almost knocked out of the nest was around 08:08:06
This morning at 7:39 am adult osprey made three low passes over the nest.
There has been a lot of concern in why their has been a lack of food at this nesting site.There has also been a report that its been a bad year for the commercial porgy fishing fleet a primary food for the osprey.
What these public wildlife cams do is allow us the public to follow the birds nesting. I do not believe they’re intended to answer all the questions we have about this species. What they do is allow us to view them neating!
I would suggest to find answers to these questions contact the Massachusetts Audubon Society. They might not even be aware of what we’re viewing either way. Our input could be very beneficial to them as well as all the other sites for those who are viewing. They are professionals in this specific field.
thank you James for the info.
Good info! If humans have overfished their food source, wouldn’t that be reason enough for rescue or supplemental feeding?
About 7:40am an osprey kept dive bombing the smaller of the two and almost knocked it out of the nest, was crazy! Its getting tough to watch as these 2 seem to be starving, mother nature I know but it stinks!
if they want the time for the highlights, it was around 07:38:56 and 07:39:19
I saw an adult dive bombing the nest over and over around 7:20
Was another osprey just attacking one of them? It kept swooping down and looked like it was hitting the smaller one?
Yeah I was watching that too. Tried to get a photo. The poor chick is keeping his head down. Not sure if he is hurt. I can’t tell which one was the victim.
Hopefully mom or dad will feed these two soon. Havn’t eaten in 2 days
So I’ve watched for three seasons. I have not seen such a lack of either male or female lacking in delivery of sustenance as we witnessed over the last few weeks. We saw a chick succumb during a nor’easter and last year the clutch disappeared into the abyss. I am wondering if tagging some how might have led to the male first and then the female to not feed? But on the other hand I have never seen so many Osprey in our skies as we see today and as we have seen even on the fresh nesting phase there is driven instinctual behavior so imagine it in the skies over the hunting grounds and if there’s competition with even duels that might take a provider out or handicapped with an injury it is possible that might be the reason for Carlson seeming to vanish. In three seasons I’ve not seen an abandonment so it’s a very intriguing riddle.
I understand that Quebec died because the older ones were hogging the fish. I just can’t grasp why Rachel and Carson have deserted what seem to be two healthy osprey. I see a few other nests everyday in my travels. They all still have an adult present.
Been checking in but hard to watch even though it seems to be a tough season for ospreys and nature is sometimes hard to watch with our view of this nest. Has anyone seen Carson at all? It seems like from the comments I’ve been reading he hasn’t been around. I hope that he is ok. This mating pair is aging and I have to wonder if they’re aging out of their reproductive years.
There’s a very old female at the Hellgate cam who is still producing. They believe she’s the oldest known female at 30. I rewatched a few of the seasons here at this nest and there’s something not right. The parents in the past have continued bringing fish even during the chicks fledging. The male hasn’t been seen for days now Rachel hasn’t comeback to the nest since yesterday. It’s heartbreaking to watch.
This is Mother Nature at work ,,,, you cannot interfere.
I’m having an hard time understanding how banding the chicks was going to be for research purposes if they won’t even survive. If people want to study their migratory habits then maybe there should be intervention for food to help them grow enough to allow them to fledge and learn to hunt.
if we can band them then,why cant we help with food !!!!! Protected birds ?? I think not !!
The banding was for Identifying, there is no technology in the band to track migratory habits
Glenn, can’t we bring them some fish? Please?