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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.
Carson babysitting
so so so so soooooooooooooooooooooo cool
Carson returns
Did I see 3 eggs?? or was it just part of the nest? 04/23 about 11:15 ish
3 eggs
That is excellent news!
3 eggs in the nest!!!
3 beautiful eggs for sure this morning!!!
Three eggs for sure!!!
I saw 3 eggs at 10am
So, after a few attempts to land a fish for Rachel… Carson is back (no fish ). Competition nearby …
Finally now Rachel is gone and Carson will guard the nest. Good luck Rachel.
Hey! A fish… wait a sec…. Nope. Carson came in with a fish at 7:30. Then flew off again with it.
Maybe he was being threatened by the other osprey? To be continued….. 😉
I kept checking in yesterday, and last night. I didn’t see any fish in the nest. Was hoping my timing was off and I missed an incoming meal for Rachel.
Pretty windy out there!
Windy up there… the camera is shaking a bit.
Wondering if #3 will arrive today.
Where are the 2023 comments?
Is there just 2 eggs? I didn’t realize that it takes two months for the eggs to hatch.
She may lay more eggs still – each is laid 2-3 days apart. So 2 so far. And incubation is then 37 days for each egg, so they will also hatch a couple of days apart.
Why can’t I see any comments?
Very quick mating as she sat on nest. Carson flew in and flew out.
I saw a similar mating action around 5:30am this morning. I’m hoping for lots of chicks this season!
I think there was just a mating attempt? Maybe? More just sort of standing on the middle of Rachel’s back..
More mating just now at 12:43pm! Egg #3 maybe on the way in a day or so!
Morning treat for me! April 21, 2023, 10:15ish: I was looking out the window of our home on Childs River Road when I saw a large bird on the opposite side of the river swooping down along the river. I rushed to get my binoculars and sure enough I confirmed it was an osprey with a fish. He/she chose to set down on a branch of an oak tree that was very close to a small cottage type house to enjoy the meal. Could not determine if it was male or female. Stayed about 15 minutes and then took off. I checked the cam and noted that Rachel was in the nest but Carson was not. Not unusual to see ospreys flying around this area.
Two Eggs!
Neat!!
That’s excellent! 👍
Wow!
A second egg? Just saw what looks like another one, after Rachel flew off with a fish.
(a fish that Carson defended from another osprey!) yay Carson
Now for Carson to finish filling in the corners 😄
I believe I saw Rachel lay her second egg. I will let the expert (Glenn) confirm. It was 4:30PM- ish.
This is an amazing site for us to watch. Thank you to all for letting us into their lives.
How exciting to have watched it live! I added it to the highlights page.
Yes… a second one. Very eggciting☺️ thank you Glenn – Just watched the playback…. Good for you Christine .
Yes 2
I may be wrong it’s 4:26 PM I just checked in and it looks like there’s a second egg am I seeing things?
Surprised not to see a second egg by now…Or am I missing something?
Hi Peter. You didn’t miss anything, there’s still just one egg. I just re-checked a couple of sources and it seems 2-3 days between eggs seems to be the average, so I expect we’ll see another by tomorrow.
👍
From last year, was one egg not viable? If so was it first laid or last or known which?
I wonder if earliest might be most difficult to keep temp within tolerances and if so that was the one last year?
Such a marvel and so appreciative of those who have made this all possible.
I don’t think temp variations effect the eggs. There are a lot of birds that don’t start to incubate the eggs until they are all laid so they all hatch about the same time.
I think it was outside the main nest for a while (a day?) and therefore missed out on being incubated by Rachel.
The egg !!!
Great view!
Gotta make sure the nest is perfect for the new egg. ❤
How much time usually between eggs being laid?
1-2 days. Last year, 4 eggs were laid over a 7-day period.
Where are 2023 comments?
Surely there’re must be some by now?
Scroll down until you see page numbers and click on 40 for the most current information.
My friend had the same problem yesterday.
Lois, click Home at the top of this page. Then click Osprey Cam.
that will refresh your page to its current state. 🙂
Now it appears Home is missing at the top of the screen.
so click on the “Friends of “ Banner. Then click on Osprey Cam. 🙂
How many eggs will be laid this year?
Last year was 4 and 3 hatched.
I vote for 3 eggs laid in 2023.
No camera?
She is fussing getting everything just right around her first egg. Nice to see!
Yes! The first egg was laid early this morning (around 2:40am). See the highlights page to watch it. You can see her laboring, then the first partial view of the egg is about 02:40:38. You can get a better view when she stands up and moves her leg away at the end of the clip. The egg looks bright white in the infra-red camera since it gives off heat, but it is actually speckled, as it looks during the day.
There is the egg!
We have an egg! Such a great site.
This time last year Rachel laid her first egg. This morning Rachel has been sitting in the middle of the nest but I can’t tell if there is an egg. It will be so interesting if this is like clock work and she does lay her first egg on the same day as last year.
Last year, the first egg was laid on April 15th, so she’s a few days late. The egg hatched on 5/23. I’m predicting this one will hatch on 5/25. DraftKings, are you paying attention?
😂
Glenn, thank you for clarification. LOL on your prediction!