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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.
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.
well, wherever he spent the night, he returned at 8:28am , aug 9. he seems calmer.
Is Oscar able to hunt for his own food?
Oscar wasn’t on the nest all night and haven’t seen him yet this morning
someone should go out there with binoculars and see if they can spot him flying around or roosting in a tree.
Sadly – it looked line a 1/2 eaten fish and there was not much there and a few minutes later Oscar was SQUAWKING again i’m sure he can’t wait to be able to get his own fish! 😉
OSCAR had been squawking for 2 hours and finally Carson (I think) stopped by with a small fish) and Oscar was going wild. I thought it was another fledging but then when the Osprey left, Oscar was busy with his head down pulling fish with his beak 😉
I hope Rachel or Carson bring him his dinner soon. He’s been squawking for some time now! ;-(
can i just join the discussion? I have been viewing Oscar since his birth and the loss of his two siblings
but he’s becoming an adult so quickly and is adorable
Correction, there is audio!
Didn’t see any fish delivery today and there is no audio
Ok, never mind. It just flew.
Is it just me and my screwy eyes or is the wing of the bird not sitting the right way?
I hate it when the fish are still alive and moving.
7:38am small whole fresh fish delivered! You can always tell when someone is coming to the nest, she gets really loud!
such a tiny fish. Just a snack. Hope more fish show up today.
Starting about 10:52am and for about 5 minutes straight (still ongoing), Oscar has been squawking as though there is a nearby interloper, but I have not seen sight of anything. Just an observation, but a little bothersome.
I want to thank everyone who has been reporting fish deliveries here in the comments. This information is being recorded on a spreadsheet that is shared with WildCare and WBNERR, and is important to continue to track the status of the nest and the health and wellbeing of Oscar. So keep up the good work, as citizen scientists!
As important as that is, it is also comforting for those who worry about Oscar.
Happy to do it!!
Tuned in just in time to catch a fish delivery at 10:01.
10:01am Fish delivered!
A snack was delivered around 11:52
Article about Oscar in today’s Cape Cod Times!
https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/environment/2026/08/05/falmouth-osprey-cam-waquoit-bay-oscar-rachel-carson/91118096007/
Thanx glen for posting this
dianne
Thank you Glen for the posting the link and thanks to Heather McCarron for writing such a nice article!
Sadly I can’t read the article, all grayed out.
Thank you for sharing. Good to know how many people care about these amazing birds
Nice article thanks for posting it!
Thanks so much for posting this article. For a while I was avoiding checking in on the nest, fearing the worst for Oscar after Rachel and Carson seemed to abandon him. It was interesting to learn that other osprey pairs seem to also be having trouble this season. It was great to see Oscar defending his nest and that Wild Care feels he is doing OK on his own. I’ll go back to being a regular visitor to the nest cam.
Annie, I felt the same way. I am unable to access the article but after reading your comment, I am watching the nest again 😀
I’ve noticed the Mashpee Roche Bros parking lot nest only has one chick as well as the Falmouth Walmart parking lot nest has one chick as well. Last year we would see osprey fly over the yard on a daily basis with fish. Haven’t seen that at all this year. Sad year for the osprey but glad some have made it
Oscar looks a bit lonely😢 after reading about the ospreys at Chesapeake Bay I am very thankful this bird has survived
Breakfast 6:20