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Welcome to “Season Four” of our osprey cam! Carson arrived on March 20th, 2025. 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 2025 (“Season Four”)
View highlights from 2024 (“Season Three”)
View highlights from 2023 (“Season Two”)
View highlights from last year (“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.
Rachel and Carson with their new hatchling!!!
thanks Jacqueline,You caught some great action!
Chick being fed at 16:35:00 05/26
Great pic Dena!❤️
Real nice picture! Is it a phone screen shot?
Chick is pictured just in front
Thank you for the photo
Great one, thanks Joe!
Great picture !
Chick is out front.
Good catch, Sandy! I posted that one also.
She’s calling for food.
HI GLEN,MY OSPREY STORY “MR,CARSON & RACHEL, OSPREY WARRIORS” IS IN MASHPEE ENTERPRISE, -TODAY PG. 4, ENJOY JOAN
Thank you Joan! Looking forward to reading your piece.
I get the sandwich enterprise. Will it be in that one as well?
NOT THAT I KNOW OF., I BELIEVE ITS ONLY IN MASHPEE ENTERPRISE .JOAN
Joan, thank you for sharing your beautiful article! And so apropriate for the piece to come out on the birthday of the first chick. You must have planned that!
For those who don’t subscribe to the Enterprise, try this link.
IM SO HAPPY THAT U LIKED IT, CAN WE NAME THE FIRST BORN GLENN,”?/
Great article Joan. Thanks so much!
SANDY, IT MAKES ME HAPPY THAT U ENJOYED MY ARTICLE, THANKS JOAN
Great view of the baby at 12:16 if Glenn can post the video. Fussing over the nest and babe-Carson almost boinked the baby with a stick 🙀
I just posted that one. Thanks for the great observations everyone! I couldn’t tell exactly when it hatched, but it was sometime around 8am.
I think it was Carson on the nest and around 7:42 and again about 5 min later it looked like he was poking at the egg-maybe helping it along?
Great! Was watching around 8:30 ish and think at that time Carson had been on the eggs, Rachel came back and took over. They both spent a lot of time then looking down and also looked like listening to the eggs under Rachel. Had wondered if that was what was going on….
And Carson seems to have brought lunch but is not sharing yet.
There is hatching!
Haven’t seen the chick yet, but Rachel moving half the shell out from under her.
5/26, 10:19 and 10:26 – Third bird flew by and both parents got very defensive.
I believe I saw that one too, but wasn’t sure what it was – osprey or hawk.
Watching last nite at around 11:30, I saw a squirrel climb up the near side of the next, it stayed for just a few seconds with Rachel asleep. Then it scurried away. Caught a blurry screen shot. Watched for another ten minutes; never to appear again. Was a it looking to snatch an egg?
Great to see one has hatched!
Lot of activity arattentive, Carson staying very close and attentave
Some nest adjustments and a great shot of a baby at 8:55am.
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Sorry! I tried to add a heart emoji. The scrambled letters I got aren’t nearly as cute.
At least one new hatchling this morning!
“Clear” view of the baby, at the far right of the other eggs:
Just caught a glimpse of something tiny moving under Rachel’s chest. Both parents paying a lot of attention. Happy Birthday, little one!
Awwww, welcome to the world ‘A’ lots of feedings to come. I’ve been watching another web cam located on Long Island in Pachogue NY. 4 hatchlings! 2 large, 1 medium and a teeny little one who seems to be doing ok. It ain’t easy being the youngest . Looking forward to seeing our Waquoit Ospreys thrive and survive .👍🏼
8;33 I could swear I saw a chick,, but waiting for second view.
5/26/23, 8:32 a.m. Rachel and Carson in the nest, looks like they are both trying to remove the empty egg shell.
Looks like a hatch! Part of an empty shell just moved by Rachel.
8:33 am. Rachel moves the broken egg shell from the nest
YAY. A baby!!!
We have a new arrival!!
GM, This egg appears to be hatching @ 8am 5/26. Right on time! Happy Birthday!
OMG! Do I see a baby that has emerged!!!!
Yes!!!!
OK I thought I saw a head popping but not sure why Rachel is sitting on them.
All 4 eggs intact 9:36 pm on May 26
Oops I am getting ahead of myself- photo is from May 25.
Does anyone know when to expect the eggs to hatch?
Based on last year’s first egg laid and first egg hatched (4/15/22 laid and 5/23/22 hatched, respectively) and this year’s egg laid 4/18/23, I expect a hatch of 5/26/23! We will see!
Or maybe it’s the camera that’s swaying.
I believe they are connected together. When it is windy, you can see the nest platform swaying. Makes me dizzy to watch it LOL.
😆 I get dizzy too.
When it appears the platform is swaying, I look at the houses. So far, they have been “blowing in the wind” so I presume it is the camera that is shaking and not the platform on the pole.
I think it is the camera. See my reply to Annie.
1:23 p.m. Thursday. Both Rachael and Carson in nest. The platform is swaying a bit in the wind.
I’m thinking ‘any time now’ 😉
Rachel seems to be having some trouble moving a light colored twig around. She has been changing it to different places and then moving it again. Wish I could help, seems to be bugging her.
No babies yet!!
Keeping an intruder away a few mornings ago. You can see the intruder just right of center.
Thanks for the photo. Wonder what kind of raptor that was
More nesting supplies coming in from both Rachel and Carson. Nice watching them move the bigger pieces together, helping each other!
Great observation! They’ve been spending a lot of time building up the nest to make room for the chicks. Will today be the day?
I find it very interesting. I am also observing a nest at Morse Pond School and the ones there are doing the exact same thing, adding more to the nest. Another observation I made was Carson and Rachels nest is so clean with just the sticks etc. The one at Morse pond has lots of garbage in it. They even stole a students lunch box a few weeks ago. Great lesson for our students in picking up trash etc.
Glen, I hope so, I’m still waiting and watching patiently. Peace joan
Cutest photo!
Carson on the nest
Does anyone know what happened to the video cam? Or is any else seeing a white screen? I am seeing a white screen at the moment (and for the past 15-ish minutes).
When Carson is not at the nest does anyone know if he is roosting close by or is he away from the nest?
Thank you
There are a few times I’ve seen him circle around and appear to head towards the taller trees to the left and behind the camera. I suspect that his normal roosting place is there.
I only see 3 eggs. Did something happen? I have observed a third osprey circling the nest.
Morning Tara, there are 4 eggs but there were some very close fly bys a few minutes ago that got both Rachel and Carson vigorously squawking. I am not sure why a third osprey would taunt the nest since their only diet consists of fish.
There was a third osprey that would land on the nest without problem last year. This year they seem to be chasing it away. Also there was a nest last year on the building there, that I believe fell down after the season was over. If the nest is back, maybe the third osprey is from that nest.
one of the eggs has darker markings and is harder to see, but there are still 4 there
I’m a little confused. Carson flies in, mounts on top of Rachel for about 5 seconds and then flies off. Is this typical amorous activity during this phase?
Yeah-I was about to ask if Carson finally realizes Rachel has her hands full, since I hadn’t noticed any mating, but then I saw him on Rachel this morning as well. Getting close to hatching watch
Oh dear – Dianne – he just did it again! I don’t know if I should laugh or feel bad for Rachel. She squawked a bit but not sure what the sounds meant.
I hope she can’t get pregnant again, but 🤷♀️