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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.
Return
That’s actually Rachel and Carson. I haven’t seen the chicks return yet, but they’re probably perched safely in a nearby tree.
Carson and Rachel landed in nest with fish. No chicks to share it with.
YOUR RIGHT, IM CHECKING IT AGAIN AT 7 PAST 6 AND NOBODY IS THERE, WHATS UP? JOAN
The nest is empty at 5:50 AM.
The nest is now empty! 5:48am
Echo took flight with Rachel…missed getting pic
07/22 05.48ish
There is some kind of netting debris in nest. This was on button left of next yesterday & now here…hoping Rachel removes from nest…
They probably won’t remove it since either Rachel or Carson would have brought it. Ospreys are known to use all kinds of man-made materials as part of their nests.
I mentioned thinking this could cause harm to the birds if their talons get caught up in it…from post above it appears this has already happened. Hopefully none of them fly off with it caught up & land in a tree only to get more entangled. I’m sure not much can be done at this point to get rid of it. I’m just gonna 🙏 this wire mesh gets thrown out of nest somehow.
Rachel returns, no fish
ITS 5 AM AN ONLY ONE AT HOME, I DO NOT THINK SHE HAD ANYTHING TO EAT YESTERDAY. PRAYERS FOR HER AND THE FAMILY LOVE JOAN
I wonder, too, how this whole process plays out. Rachel was able to bring 3 chicks to health last year so I am hopeful. Only time will tell.
The chicks hatched a day or two apart. Maybe the lonely one will fledge tomorrow or the next day.
I thought Delta would be back to sleep. Guess not. Well Echo, time to get air under those wings and go fishing. It is an interesting world out there for you to explore.
2:38 am 7/22
Still only 1 chick in the nest.
Agree this is hard to watch. But I believe parents are around. Plus the other fledging is somewhere close I’m sure and they need to watch over it as well. But still. Such a lonely night for this little guy
That “baby” is going to be fine. It will be flying very soon itself. Mom has been in and out all afternoon and she also sits on or very close to the camera.
This is very hard to watch. I doubt this baby will survive.
Poor lonely hungry bird 😳☹️. All by itself with only the ants for company…hope someone comes back to join him/her.
No supper so far either?
One lonely bird 😞
Only see one bird in nest?
the other baby flew off this afternoon.
Looks like one is off flying
Do you think the siblings are male or female?
Looks like today’s lesson is “how to build a nest!”
Ha! Carson flew in – for a cameo – then took off! Where is Delta (I’m assuming)?
Is this Rachel and the 2nd chick?
Yes. Definitely Rachel. I am impressed that Delta (I’m assuming) has fledged for, at least, a couple/few hours!
Thanks
Rachel back
Wonder why it’s chest looks so indented?
I just noticed that, too, I can’t tell what is up with that. If it’s an injury or just different colored feathers. He/She keeps preening there. It’s 3:41 and he’s doing a lot of flapping. Now it looks like he’s settling in for a nap! I’m pretty sure at the nests near my house the fledglings go back and forth out of the nest once they are flying, right?
He/she looks hilarious – like “what the heck happened?” Looks like naptime – I think the stress has made him/her sleepy. Wonder if mom or dad will bring home a fish or not? I hear the parents squawking a lot – I wonder if they are encouraging a second launch? Or encouraging the first fledgling on his first day of flight?
That’s what’s known as an empty crop.
Ospreys have a pouch just below the base of the tongue. It stores food which gives a constant supply to the stomach. This crop protrudes when it is full giving the appearance of a bulge on the chest. This is most likely what you noticed…..hope this helps 🙂
And then there was one!
What happens when the young ospreys fledge? Do they come back to the nest? Or are they hopping around on the ground? Just wasn’t sure.
Here is what I learned:
“The chicks will fledge about 55 days after hatching but will use the nest as home base until they migrate in September.”
Me next…
Only one bird in the nest. After watching so much, I missed the flight.
I did too, I’ve watched almost constantly! Bummer!
Me too. Oh, what a bummer!
One has fledged. Not sure if it was Delta or Echo. Only one is in the nest right now. I watched this guy do a few practice hovers but never actually leaves the nest.
What a bummer, I missed it too 🙁
Darn it, was watching for
Over an hour and missed it too!
Watching this entire season unfold has been a great joy; from the rebuilding of the nest to the eggs, the hatchings, the feeding, the extraordinary commitment of Rachel and Carson to the safety and well-being of the baby chicks, the loss of the two smallest, the first flapping and jumping, to this moment of the first fledging. Incredible! With gratitude to all the people that have made this available to us all.
I see not too many of us have been invested in their first flight…😂👍🤪
Oh, he flew and I just missed it. Somewhere between 1:30 and 1:45. Glenn, please post the video.
Looks like liftoff at 13:43:12 !!!
First flight!
First chick flew out of the nest at 13:43 today. Second one is doing a lot of flapping and jumping–seems anxious to follow. The mesh is over in one corner and nearly out of the way.
Looks like first fledge flight of Delta? at 1:44 PM today.
if we can assume it’s echo left- he sure is looking lost all by himself
13:43:12 and he is off!!!
I turned away for a second and missed it. Aaaahhh!!
they were doing their regular flapping from side to side and he just flew off!