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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.
Up too late. Rachel (or Carson) is a good parent, dozing while looking over Delta and Echo.
Very nice to hear all the good info. I was concerned for the chicks. Thank you.
Glen I agree with you . They are being weaned from their parents giving them independence with their maturity. That’s a very good point that you had giving them room to exercise or wings. Additionally, I believe by the parents staying outside of the nest that entices them at some point to join them out of the nest.
Regarding all of the “Where’s Rachel?” questions and concerns, I fully agree that there seems to be no reason for concern. Last year around this time, Rachel left the nest for longer periods. The chicks are still dependent on food from the adults but not much more, so Rachel doesn’t need to be in the nest 24/7. As they get ready to fledge, she may be giving the chicks room to spread their wings. Last year with 3 chicks we saw much more “bullying” behavior in the nest, which may have given Rachel more reason to hang around. The chicks’ rate of development has also slowed considerably and they may not need to be fed as frequently since they aren’t expending much energy. All signs point to successful fledging of both chicks in the coming week or so.
thank you Glen,joan
Greatly appreciate you sharing all this. Just curious, are the chicks able to defend themselves if needed? Or no need because adults are near by. Thinking eagles can be a threat , correct?
I think when and if needed, at least one of the adults is always nearby.
Have the chicks eaten this morning?
haven’t seen Carson and now Rachel is not in nest
Last Wednesday (7/5) I took my 19 year old twin second cousins to the nest. We saw Carson perched on a branch, in an approx 45’ tree, to the left of the nest (when facing the camera lens). This tree was ~100 feet from the nest. He keeping a close eye on us and surroundings! We also observed Rachel sitting on a branch in a tree very close by but out of camera range. She appeared very concerned that we were there and had circled us a couple times :-O
I saw all the posts earlier this morning about Rachel being gone, and then was watching the chicks around 530-ish this morning. They were spending a lot of time doing googlie head motions and looking at something that was probably on top of the camera so I bet that’s where Rachel‘s been. They also seem to being bothered by something in the nest, lotta head shaking and head flipping, last year there were tons of ants in the nest by this time. Also, I think they can get lice in the nests, so maybe Rachel’s taking a break from all that and roosting close by but not on the nest for the night? About 534 to 535 this morning I did see an osprey fly in and it looked like it went to the trees to the left. I don’t know if that was Carson or Rachel. But the chicks have seemed very calm throughout, so the parents must’ve been close by.
congratulations Rachel, you came home at 6 10 am this morning, stop staying out all night, love joan
😉
Is it Rachel?
She’s back … 😀
Listening I hear an adult Osprey very close to next & sounds like in one spot & not in flight. So maybe she is out of camera range…
That’s what I was thinking
Finally. Rachel returns
Still no Rachel…chicks calling.
No Rachel all night.
10:50 Chicks are calm, but no Rachel in sight. Hope she’s on the camera…. hope she is alright.
July 10, 10:18 pm. Both chicks now standing, grooming and flapping wings. My last post for tonight.
July 10, 10:10 pm. Chicks Delta and Echo have been alone now for one hour. They are nestled together in the nest. Sleeping, occasional grooming and stretching their wings. (not flapping them)
Wonder if Rachel is there but sitting on top of camera??? Chicks seem peaceful & not crying out for her
9:35 pm This is highly unusual to have the chicks alone at night.
Hope Rachel is ok?
I am thinking the same thing
I’m thinking Carson…chicks alone again!
9:11 pm chicks are alone.
I thought it was Carson on the nest looking all around forRachel perhaps?
Yes, I think that could very well be.
July 10 at 9:10 p.m. Rachel just left the nest.
Is that Carson?
july 10, 8:55 p.m. Rachel in nest. Is there a malfunction with the camera? Seeing something odd at the bottom of the screen since it changed over to night vision. I think someone else posted a similar comment.
I think it’s a spiders web
Looking at the live view this morning, I can see the sun glinting off of silk from a spiders web so that’s most likely what is causing the disturbance on the camera at night not mist or fog. Though sometimes you do see that too. As I remember that happened last year with webs 🤔
Checked in over an hour ago & no Rachel…still no Rachel. I did see her this morning.
Has anyone seen her since morning?
She was there an hour ago
I wonder if she is looking for Carson 🤷♀️
Here is a pic of Charlie coming in for a landing with a piece of fish
Aww what a great photo of dear Charlie!
Hope he is doing well!
I’ve been comparing this season to last & have noticed a similar time frame…last season between 07/15-07/21 Alpha & Bravo fledged…our favorite “Charlie” fledged last.
Does anyone remember how long after they started doing the wing flapping that they actually took off and flew?
My word! Where is mama???
She leaves for awhile at a time now 🤷♀️
And the chicks are almost as big as Rachel!
It’s amazing how much they’ve grown in approx 43 days! Hatched 5/26 and 5/27.
Everybody grooming…
All together! 07/09 6am
I just checked in at 11pm. Does anyone know what appears to be swarming around the bottom of the screen? Haven’t seen that before. The birds don’t seem to notice.
I’m pretty sure that’s fog/mist blowing past the camera
One chick trying to prevent the other from wing exercising. Jumping on his back and biting his back.
See wing flapping highlight. Thanks Glenn!
I saw that too…damn kids!
Just posted some of the recent activity. Thanks for providing the times!
Too cute 🦅
mom and the kids were having a talk with another unseen osprey ( maybe Carson?) maybe calling for breakfast. So Rachel takes off and then one of the kids starts flapping away- around 6:43am- if Glenn can post- the chick was at it for some time, but didn’t get airborne
happened again at 08:01:09-ish. They sure want to take off and fly with mom!
Watching Rachel doing homework …I think maybe getting ready for babies flying lessons
An amusing moment: I tuned in at 17:31 on 7/7 and Rachel was ‘singing.’ Then the kids sang the chorus!
Missed it…maybe Glenn will post so all can watch
Poor Rachel must be so hot sitting in the sun, shading Delta and Echo all day. That sun has been scorching in Boston for days. I hope it’s a bit cooler on the Cape.
07/07/2023 11/39 am one chick feeding itself and occasionally a bit from mom. hhmm can only see1 chick
ooops there it is hiding behind mom. So big now I didn’t thin that was possible lol