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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.
Just like DDT, human stupidity at work, interfering in a species natural habitat, then wondering what happened.
What does DDT stand for ?
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane……..an insecticide.
You can Google to read the articles
Was unable to add the link here.
Have any birders observed Oscar in the area? Also wondering where we check to see if his band has been sighted.
My understanding on banding data is that sightings are first reported to a Federal agency (USGS) through reportband.gov, then sent to the state or local authorities that banded the bird, in our case this is DCR Natural Resources. A sighting of Oscar would then be relayed to staff at WBNERR and myself. Since this is new for us, I don’t know how long that process will take, but I will report anything I hear as soon as possible here in the comments.
Thank you, Glenn!
Glenn, Thanks for all of your factual information , hope you keep us all informed .
Thanks Glen. Look forward to future posts.
Glad you asked Catbird!
I am local and have been by the nest several times and have not seen Oscar in the area since
12:54 on Sunday 8/9. There was a scuffle with an adult intruder on the nest and they both flew off. There has been other adults and another fledgling on the nest sporadically since that day so I think there may have been a nest takeover. On another note I have been at a West Falmouth beach for the past 3 days and the remaining Osprey on that side of town seem to be doing great. I saw multiple Osprey returning to shore with fish each day I was there.
Thank you for the info MikeyD!
The nest at Roche has at least one chick that is still flying around.
still there same spot at 6:30am
7:35ish adult??? Anyone recognize this Oprey?
Definitely an adult and it appears to be Carson. He has spent all night there and did not move so you couldn’t see the white or necklace breast, but the side view appears to be all white, so must be Carson. That’s a first in a while!
I’m watching now at 17:38:42.
Initially thought it was Oscar but got a clear view of both legs and no band.
A non-Oscar fledgling is at the nest, approximated 17:00 August 21.
Right! Hmmmm. Now I’m wondering if that is why Carson spent the night there (see my comment above).
That would make sense! The bird seems to be standing guard. I looked back at previous photos/videos, and the adult has a white patch of feathers near the shoulder/right wing, similar to Carson.
https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-daily/superbly-adapted-osprey
Osprey at Bird note
Search osprey formore….
Pic is of Oscar being banded…there are 2 bands, 1 silver the other yellow & you can almost read numbers on each…
A blackbird just took off with one of the bands.
Time 8:12:20, and correction: it’s a Fish Crow.
Good catch! I saved that to the highlights in case anyone missed it.
4:08 and still on the nest
Looks like Oscar is back in the nest tonight. I do believe
that’s a banded leg I see.
I thought it looked more like an adult, but the lighting wasn’t very good. I wish they had a camera with sharper pictures.
I thought it looked like an adult too, didn’t really see any white on the feather tips. And what I thought was a band turned out to be a stick.
Yesterday, there was an Osprey, presumably Oscar in the nest. Suddenly, two other Ospreys attempted to land on the nest at about the same time. Oscar spread his wings and flapped until the visitors flew away. A few minutes later, Oscar flew off. There was no obvious fish in the nest at the time.
Another angle
left at 9:04 am
Adult
It’s Oscar! By zooming in on the photo I could see the metal band on the leg! 9:00 AM Sun
Sorry am having trouble posting photo, hope it works now.
Adult
Oh it’s not Oscar? It’s so hard to tell with the legs in the shadows that way.
8:50 am sun, who is this on the nest? looks like a bib, and no banding. is this the elusive Rachel or are the feathers that of a youngun
8:52 someone on the nest
At 6:49:20 – for a brief moment – I saw the wing of an osprey come over the camera – as thought the osprey is sitting on top of the camera. Albeit the camera post is not shaking or moving. I could not tell if it was young adult or parent.
Still on the cam at 7:21! I saw the wing too.
You might find this article interesting
!
Wanted to share the comments I read at the recent Menhaden Management meeting. Very grateful for the few others who made comments; thank you for showing up.
Good afternoon, members of the Board. My name is Paul Eidman, Founder and President of Menhaden Defenders.
The signs of trouble are unmistakable. The experts at catching bunker — Omega Protein — are now flying spotter planes hundreds of miles from Reedville to Cape Cod Bay, searching for what remains of the adult biomass so they can maximize yields. Their vessels steam hundreds of miles to the New York–New Jersey Bight and return with only partial loads — almost entirely pre-spawn juveniles, just 6–8 inches long, fish that have never contributed a single egg to the future of this stock.
Across the coast, the ecosystem is signaling distress: osprey nests failing, striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, and fluke at historic lows, whale-watching vessels struggling to find marine mammals, and coastal waters that look increasingly lifeless. Outdoorsmen, fishermen, birders, and whale watchers are all demanding action because they see this collapse happening in real time.
And the largest estuary on the East Coast — the Chesapeake Bay — is dying before our eyes. Once called the jewel of the East Coast, it is being exploited while its key forage fish is ground into dog food. Taking the most vital food source out of the estuary — out of the mouths of striped bass, osprey chicks, and more — makes zero sense. It is insane.
What I’m saying is straightforward: for years, the ASMFC has catered to Omega Protein’s push for the highest possible harvest levels, even after the stock was previously declared overfished. Yes, we recognize the stock is not classified as overfished at this moment, but the record shows exactly where this approach leads — right back to overfishing and ecosystem decline.
Every Atlantic coast state has already stopped reduction fishing inside the 3-mile line — except Virginia, which continues to allow Omega Protein to remove roughly a billion menhaden a year to be ground into pet and aquaculture feed. And this is happening within an already overfished East Coast forage ecosystem, where river herring, shad, Atlantic herring, eel, and grass shrimp are all depleted.
We do not need to wait for a coastwide ecosystem collapse to act.
Menhaden Defenders calls on this Board to take meaningful action now: suspend or restrict the reduction fishery, push Omega Protein out of the Chesapeake Bay past the 3-mile line, cut the quota by more than 50 percent — especially in the Bay, expand independent ecosystem-based research, and align management with the Commission’s own ecosystem-based framework.
Nature is not whispering — it is shouting. The ecosystem is failing in plain sight. You have the authority, the responsibility, and the obligation to act now. Delay is not caution — delay is collapse. Put the ecosystem first. Protect the forage base. Do your job.
Thank you.
Thank you James. You learn something new every day! I never heard of ASMFC – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is a deliberative body formed by 15 Atlantic coastal states in 1942. It coordinates the conservation and management of 27 nearshore fish and shellfish species across state waters (0 to 3 miles offshore).
Thank you for all that information. It is very obvious that something needs to be done before it’s too late. Overfishing has already affected the wildlife. Hopefully, the right choices will be made.
Interesting. Heartbreaking too. 🤔 This sure isn’t the first time that it took a declining “reproduction to fledging success rate” among Ospreys to warn humanity of unsafe environmental practices. Sheesh!
If only we had a second camera to view the nest camera!! I don’t see Oscar but I hear some noise. Assuming it’s Oscar. Maybe he is craving a little privacy.😉
12:50 PM on 8-14, there is a bird standing in the nest, not sure if it’s Carson. It did not have yellow band on either leg. Just flew off at 1:05 PM after chirping a bit.
Around 1:28 am to about 1:44, something appears on the cam in the upper right corner, looks like maybe a wing? It appears again at 3:07 and a couple more times after that. Is it possible Oscar nesting on top of the cam??
Greetings from Centerville! I’m a regular visitor to the nest cam, and I’ve noticed an empty nest every time I’ve checked in for the past week or so (early to mid-August). Could the osprey have departed unusually early, or are they spending more and more time away from the nest?
I’ve seen him a few times at night & around noontime. He’s supposed to be learning to be a successful fishing “machine” this time of year, to fatten up a bit before migration. But, he looks a bit thin to me. I haven’t seen him with a good full crop. Sure hoping he’s learning & eating well elsewhere. 🐟🐬
It’s sad seeing the yellow band in the middle of the nest. Does anyone know if it will be retrieved?
I agree with you about the yellow bands… & the “remains”. Hoping they’ll arrange for someone to clear off the top layer & remove the remains before next breeding season. Hope someone will post about the bands & what data is being collected too.
Has Oscar left the nest completely? Not seen him for 2 days….
Sounded like maybe he was sitting on the camera last night.
12:27 looks like a juvenile flew to the nest. Not Oscar, there’s no leg band.
For a really interesting perspective, listen to WCAI’s The Point, for the August Bird News report featuring an interview with Mark Faherty about ospreys and the challenges this year. The segment about ospreys begins about 29 minutes into the piece.
https://www.capeandislands.org/show/the-point/2026-08-11/august-bird-news
Thanks, Glenn. It was very interesting and changed my perspective and understanding.
Excellent piece Glenn. Thanks. My good friend is a commercial and charter fisherman for striped bass out of Winthrop. He said the pogie (menhaden) trawlers last year caught 8 million tons and the government then allowed another 2 million. Not sure about this year. This sounds extreme and like a contributor to the lack of fish for the ospreys. They are harvested for fertilizer, protein juice and cat food.
I live near Boston and there were ospreys successfully fishing in the Mystic River and Malden River near me which was a surprise. Not sure how they made out in fledging their chicks.
Thank you Glenn. I do enjoy listening to the weekly “Bird Report” with Mark Faherty when I get a chance and I did catch the last 15 minutes of this episode. They pretty much reiterated what you had mentioned earlier that this is the first year we have seen this on Cape Cod. But Chesapeake Bay has been experiencing this for quite some time primarily due to overfishing of menhaden. I also looked up menhaden and learned they are also water cleaners and filter huge volumes of water as they feed, which helps control plankton blooms and improves water clarity in estuaries like Chesapeake Bay.
Love the “Bird Report”. He gave a good overview of the issues both locally & for the East Coast nests in general. Sadly, it’s been a lean season, with a lower rate of successful fledges. 😢
Thank you for sharing this link, Glenn. Very interesting and I liked learning more about what’s going on this year.
Thank you Glenn. 👍
someone’s perched at edge of nest.
Yes! Can’t see it’s left leg to.determine if it has a band
It looks like an adult, I really don’t see any white on the tips of the feathers (and also can’t see if there is a leg band). There’s an adult on the nest this morning around 8:42. I know over the weekend there was a fight at the nest, and then after that Oscar disappeared from the nest. I wonder, if the adult that is there now (and overnight) is one of the parents, or is it one who has done a nest takeover??
At 5 AM today, there was another bird different than Oscar perched on edge of nest. It was much smaller than Oscar and had no brown, speckled markings on its breast, as Oscar does. Has there been a nest takeover or is Oscar randomly coming & going now?
Someone flew into view earlier but went right up onto the camera where its been very quiet for awhile now. Not sure if its Oscar.
Is Wild Care still keeping an eye on Oscar?Would they rescue him if he isn’t fed enough?
These are wild animals , not pets .
Yes, the place is called “Wild Care”. Previously they had said they do intervene with ospreys sometimes.
with Oscar out of the nest so much of the time, unless someone was there in person watching all the time, there is no way to know if he is being fed or not. It also would be really hard to trap him.
I think Oscar is roosting on the camera above the nest. I just heard a noise, but can’t see him. He’s probably enjoying the higher perch, and I read that he does that a lot! 😉 He may even sleep there
It is said that a fledging of this age goes off on his own to discover other resting places in the area out sight of the Camera. Also, with this age they have a tendency. To become more independent and try to do a little fishing on their own.
But Oscar is still totally dependent on Carson for his daily meals and maybe he’s being fed as he roosts in a tree nearby.
He apparently appears to be very healthy and certainly he has been guarding the nest and fighting off intruders so in all probability he’s doing what he is supposed to be doing.
But I do miss seeing him on the camera
Haven’t seen Oscar since last evening. I never saw any fish deliveries yesterday either…Hopefully he is off fishing and eating off the nest. At 8:08 this am there was an adult on the nest. Unsure if it was an intruder or mom/dad.
An osprey just chased Oscar out of the nest. He flew away with feathers flying. The. You could hear him? off camera chirping away.
Well, Oscar got tired of waiting for food and flew off around 5:30 PM (Sunday). The poor little guy was screeching for food and I did not see Carson come with food. And i’ve been passively watching while doing other things on computer. I am wondering if he’s trying on his own to get food. He’s probably been practicing, instinctively, they know what to do, but it takes practice .. 🙂
another fight to protect the nest starting around 17:25:12
Oscar has been making a lot of noise or a long time feeling neglected. I am sure he’s hungry, I think, I did see him in the nest in the middle of the night .. but now he’s waiting for food and he’s been screaming fro a long time
Oscar back! 2:10 pm Very vocal.