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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.
Has there been any fish deliveries since this morning?
Has anyone seen Rachel in the past week or so? I seem to have missed seeing her.
Yes, I saw her yesterday. Both parents were defending the nest from an intruder.
Thank you! I was starting to get concerned.
I am pretty sure she has been hanging out in the tree behind the nest. The chick has been at that side of the nest looking up quite a bit this am.
What an unbelievable, what seems like an emotional sight for Oscar. At 7:34 he squawked over his deceased siblings and then lied down partially on top of them seemingly morning their loss.
So sad 🙁 I haven’t been watching lately. Hopefully Oscar will thrive and stay strong
Oscar (who appears – so far – to be female with the necklace) stayed there until 7:57.
I saw him/her lay next to them last night too😢
Oscar just flew beautifully from the nest!
10:31-10:33 Carson protecting nest from intruder
Actually, I’m viewing from another angle, and it looks like remaining chick has a fish in his talons. Let’s hope! An intruder was just threatening from above as Oscar was sounding the alarm. Yes, now I see….thank heavens IT IS A FISH! Hope Oscar was the angler 🙂
A fish was dropped of by Carson at 8:49 this morning. Oscar is still too young to provide for itself, but fortunately 1-2 fish have been brought back to the nest each day for the past few days.
Hats off to Carson! Thanks for the update Glenn. Hopefully, things will continue to progress toward success and survival into adulthood 🌈.
Also, another bird is hovering above and looks like intruder trying to chick’s current food source (deceased sibling)
Has the remaining chick either fished this morning or did Carson drop off a fish? Looks like he might be feeding on the carcass.
Fish drop off at 8:49:51
Edit: 8:49:47
I watched Oscar groom himself all day and was wondering if he is getting ready to leave and he did an hour ago and hasn’t come back !!!
He’s Baaaack
Any idea why the bird died?
Sadly, both chicks appeared to die of starvation. The oldest chick would not allow either of the younger chicks to eat.😢
Dehydration due to lack of available fish. Oldest sibling usually devoured fish deliveries by parents. Common theme throughout ..
One of the fledglings died in the nest a few days ago, Now it’s being cannibalized by a remaining sibling. This isn’t good theatre.
I don’t think Oscar is eating the dead sibling. He had a whole fish dropped off earlier this morning, he’s been eating it for the past several hours. There’s not a need to eat the dead sibling.
He had a decent sized fish, the angle he was standing while eating the fish made it look like he was eating sib.
8:53 a.m. there’s a fish being fed on in the nest now👍🏻
Last year the pogie trawlers met their 8 million ton government quota of fish and were then allowed to trawl for 2 million more tons. Not sure about this year as I could not locate the data, but maybe this is a contributing factor to the decline in fish being brought to the nest.
Earlier this year we watched 2 ospreys hunting many, many herring in the Mystic River in Medford and the Malden River which astonished us. We could not locate the nest(s).
There may be a shortage of pogys this year but easy pickings on the scup and black sea bass.
Breakfish is served 🐟 YAY !!!
20:16:09 Carson delivered another fish. Sorry I doubted you Carson, good to see you today!
Just saw him take a flight, left nest at 18:27:35, returned a few mins later at 18:29:01
Doesn’t it seem odd that Oscar is spending so much time at the nest now that he has fledged? This concerns me.
I just took a walk over to the Waquoit Reserve and said hello to the remaining chick. She observed me as I looked up at her through my binoculars. She did a little head wiggle as she watched me and I was delighted that she seemed so alert and well. I sent her all the good energy I could! There were at least four other osprey flying around the area (not the nest) at that time.
Have never seen this before. On Metoxit road with no nest around it.
Chris, was it still alive? If so report it to Wild Care.
What happened with this Osprey, did Wildcare rescue?
Unfortunately the osprey is not alive. Wild Care notified an Eversource biologist and they are sending a team to retrieve it.
Did another chick pass?
sure looks that way from the video
Fish delivery 11:49am!
Remove the off shore Wind Farms and the fish will be back and ocean restored to its normal state. Rachel Carson would be crying at yet another human error.
Good news!!! Osprey nest NC is thriving, go to EarthCam & search Osprey Mooresville NC
The one in CT at Milford Point is also thriving, I’ve been following!!
Following is a statement from Stephanie Ellis, Executive Director of Wild Care, Inc.
“Like so many people watching this nest, we have been deeply concerned about the condition of these chicks. Over the past several days, there were long periods in which food deliveries were infrequent, a pattern that is unfortunately being documented in osprey nests up and down the East Coast. Scientists and conservationists believe that changing environmental conditions, including shifts in prey availability linked to climate change, may be contributing to these heartbreaking losses.
At Wild Care, we do not believe in “nature taking its course”. This is because most of what we see in wildlife rehabilitation is connected, directly or indirectly, to human impacts on the natural world. For that reason, we worked with partners, including the Osprey Project, and in coordination with WBNERR, made plans to intervene and rescue the remaining chicks if conditions continued to decline.
However, over the last 24 hours, the adult osprey has resumed feeding the nest more regularly. Because a parent bird is actively caring for the surviving chick, we have made the difficult decision not to intervene at this time.
This decision is not a sign that we are giving up. Rather, it reflects the reality that once young ospreys reach the point of severe dehydration, emaciation, and neurological impairment from prolonged malnutrition, rehabilitation is often unsuccessful despite tremendous effort and resources.
Sadly, the younger chick had already reached a critical state yesterday, and did not survive.
For now, the best chance for the remaining chick is to remain with its parent in the nest, where it continues to receive care.
We will all continue to monitor the situation closely and remain prepared to reassess should circumstances change.
We share the sadness and concern felt by everyone who has been watching this family.
Thank you for caring so deeply about these birds and for understanding the complexity of these decisions, which are always made with compassion and thoughtfulness for the animals.”
Thank you for sharing this commonsense approach. I do feel this chick has a fighting chance now that Rachel & Carson are feeding more often
Thank you for providing this statement.
Thank you glenn
I was wondering if osprey would continue to return to their normal breeding grounds if the availability of food declines or if they would eventually relocate
I’m so glad that you are paying attention to this heartbreaking situation. It seemed as though the chicks were past the critical stage when the parents weren’t able to bring enough nourishment for all three to survive. I truly appreciate your compassion for these birds and so many other animals in need.
Thank you for sharing this update.
Thank you Glenn for sharing ths statement.
Need some inspiration, check out who took photo below Mark Smith truly an incredible photographer
Let’s celebrate the One
Beautiful photo, Dena!!
The offshore windmills off Cape Cod have reduced and decimated many fish. And crustacean Population s. The underground cables produce vibration the fish are repelled by, among other things.
Thats why fishermen were against the Windmills to begin with, knowing they are interfering with the ocean ecosystem. Their catches are severely reduced only since these were installed.
It has been mapped exactly within a certain radius you will not find one bit of live fish.
Chesapeake Bay may have the same issues as well.
I thought we were supposed to protect our fish and oceans.
So true Barb they are awful. The Osprey up my way on the Neponset river/Squantum area appear to be thriving as I see 2 nests with approximately 7 or 8 osprey. So sad for the second chick.
Nothing good has come from these windmills…need to go!!!
I agree, Dena!
not only are they harmful to the ocean.
A few years ago a battle against 2 windmills erected in Falmouth in proximity to homes
were finally after a long expensive battle removed due to making the residents SICK!
can you i agine what they may be doing to sealife?
maybe thats why no more Menhaden.
perhaps they relocate to safer, undisturbed areas.
Thank goodness there is a temporary ban nationaly on new offshore wind projects.
So sad 2nd chick has died
A google query yielded this: Scientists and nest-cam monitors are reporting unusually high and alarming mortality rates, with some regions facing unprecedented nesting failures. The current crisis is being heavily documented on live cameras and by field researchers. Biologists are calling ospreys the “canary in the coal mine” for coastal ecosystems right now. The primary driver is a severe, widespread lack of food availability, which is triggering intense sibling rivalry, starvation, and nest abandonment. Researchers from the Center for Conservation Biology have documented catastrophic nest failures in the Chesapeake Bay area. In these area, up to 74% of nesting pairs failed to produce any young. The productivity rate has crashed to levels worse than during the height of the DDT crisis in the mid-20th century. Viewers tracking popular nest cams in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts have witnessed a heartbreaking string of chick deaths. Connecticut Audubon’s Osprey Nation recently reported some of the lowest fledgling numbers in their history due to starvation. Ospreys in higher-salinity coastal areas depend almost entirely on Atlantic menhaden. Conservationists point out that industrial, commercial purse-seine fishing has depleted these localized fish stocks. Because the male ospreys cannot find enough fish to bring back, dominant chicks are outcompeting their siblings, leading to rapid starvation across many camera-monitored broods. Severe weather patterns have compounded the food shortage. Just a few consecutive days of storms can wipe out an entire brood of chicks. Extreme summer heat waves are causing chicks to succumb directly to heat exhaustion. Because of the high visibility of live-streamed cams, these environmental pressures are playing out in real-time before thousands of viewers, fueling a massive push by wildlife advocates to restrict commercial fishing during the critical osprey nesting season.
Susan, thank you for providing this insight and I am shocked to read that 74% of nesting pairs in Chesapeake Bay have been impacted. I find it very disturbing to know this is not just an isolated incident. I am hopeful the oldest chick will survive and since it is banded we will see what happens over the next couple years.
Yes the Chesapeake Bay area is tightly connected the off shore Wind Farms, one at the mouth of it in Virginia. . You can google for info.
Set free and now there is just the one…perhaps nature’s plan all along to ensure the survival of the one
We have an osprey nest outside our house on seconnsett island in Mashpee and we have been watching 3 healthy babies grow and they had been eating on their own ripping fish etc. After the rain storm this week there is only 1 baby Osprey left and the mother is feeding it fish into its mouth piece by piece like it is a newborn. We got 5 inches of rain but it wasn’t that windy. Could it be that they died during the storm?
Looks like the second chick is gone. There was a fish delivery at 6:02 this morning but the chick never moved.💔
One chick feeds but the other has died…
Another fish at 20:43. Big got it.
That’s 3 fish for the day for the eldest. Not sharing any with the youngest.
Fish from Carson at 15:43.
Did you notice if they shared the fish
Little one has been eatting the birds remains. Thankfully he is allowed as the older one isn’t interested.
It looked like the little one grabbed the fish from Carson, then there was a tussle, and the eldest grabbed it from him.
Oh Glenn, I have been watching since day 1 year 1. You have,, and everyone else involved, are doing a wonderful job bringing this live cam to all of us. Everyone watching must understand this is mature in its purest form. Survival of the fittest. Maybe you want to post a video from Wednesday July 8th. Between 12noon and 3:45pm Racheal turned Quebec’s death into a teaching moment for Oscar and Papa. She returned to the nest, no fish, and led them to Quebec’s remains. Unfortunately and sadly cannibalism is part of the natural order. Having “food” in the nest is delaying fledging to fish for their own food. She gently pecked at the remains then using her beak grabbed a wing to reposition them or loosen the body from the nest. The chucks reluctantly laid down and appeared to feed on Quebec’s remains. Rachael flew off.
Read the following today on Facebook. From The Osprey Project
We are getting a lot of concerned calls that the Waquoit live cam juveniles are seemingly being purposefully eliminated and asking us to intervene. While we have offered aid to young spared in a fire or one that survived a nest fall on a rare occasion, we really cannot intervene when parent birds stop feeding or even when they attack their young. You can call Cape Wildlife or Cape Wildcare to express your concerns but the osprey project was only established to remove nests from dangerous locations and provide alternative nesting sites. We suggest if you don’t like the tough part of life in the wild that you not watch the next week of live feed. It will most likely be very hard to watch. We are sad too. But something’s either wrong with the food source or with a virus and is not happening just to this nest.
I saw that too, thank you for posting it here.
Although it was not successful the younger bird did try to challenge the older bird by taking a tiny piece of fish away from it
At 7:07 the smaller one put up a little fight to get part of the fish. He wasn’t successful but I was glad to see he tried. Maybe next time.