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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.
Yay! Now attempting to self feed
Oops August 5th 19:55ish
08/09 19:53
Hoping Glenn will post
Now being fed
Feed me!!! Looks to be Carson with large fish…
1:40 pm Juvenile is eating. Interesting to see if he swallows the tail like adults do.
The male arrived at 11:33 and the female would not share leftovers with him.
8-5-23 at 9:53 am. Rachel arrives with a large fish. Juvenile just about finished eating its fish. Juvenile had brief challenge with Rachel but did back off.
the female delivered the fish at about 8:58 and I believe this is the younger of the two juveniles from this nest.
9:17 am, Aug 5, 2023…Chick in nest is eating fish. did not see who delivered it.
8:28 am, Aug 5th, 2023. One juvenile in the nest. Echo or Zulu?
I’m sure the juvenile on the nest right now (8:26) is the one who botched the landing last night.
I agree, and I believe it is the third chick Zulu who it appears it still dependent on the adult for food.
Based on last nights comments m, about one of the chicks having a tough landing, had me concerned so I took a drive there about 20 minutes ago and walked around. I did not see any injured chick on or around the nest – whewwww! Just same chick in the nest squawking. There were two osprey in the nest on the house with another one squawking somewhere in a tree. Not sure what is going on.
Glen are you able to post that troubled landing from last night?
Thanks, Merc
Thanks Merc, for going and checking it out. Based on the comments from last night, I was going to ask someone from WBNERR to do the same. Glad everything seems okay! I’m out of town for a couple of days but will check the recordings and post when I can. It’s great that we’ve got such an attentive and involved group! Thank you all!
Where does the juvenile that does not come back to the nest eat? I know its too young to fish, so does Carson or Rachel feed it somewhere else? Up in a tree?
8-4-2023 at 10:10 p.m. No sign of juvenile chick. (Echo or Zulu?) Rachel has not appeared to be agitated at what happened. Juvenile attempted landing to the right of Rachel perched at the further end of nest. She has been dozing off, preening feathers and occasionally looking down at the ground. She has been totally silent, no chirping. (there was a very light rain that fell for a short period of time). I just hope that perhaps the juvenile was able to recover and maintain flight after making it to the very edge of the nest but not quite far enough to land safely.
I saw this all go down too. That juvenile had been on the nest calling for food for almost 5 hours. I would think that with 40 feet to the ground it would have caught flight.
thanks surferboy, sure hope you are right!
8-4-23. Observing nest for last hour or so .It is now 9:04 p.m. Rachel perched at further end of nest. Chick also in nest constantly calling for food. Chick has been flying off but returns almost immediately. Then at 9:04 p.m. chick returns from short flight coming in to land in area where Rachel is perched. Unfortunately did not make the landing. Observed chick falling to ground apparently. Rachel still perched but is looking down toward the ground. I’ll post further if I see any changes.
Have been observing osprey in the sky, riding the thermals. Such an amazing thing to see!!
Why is one chick alone all the time?
Watching ….
Awwww! Two chicks are back…
A tiny camera on an Osprey with streaming video would be incredible! To see as they see.
In-coming
Great photo, Dena!
Morning pic
👍
Great shot!! Thanks 😊
You did a good job, Rachel.
Check in here: https://ccmnh.org/attractions/osprey-cam Tough year on this nest but the one has not yet fledged.
Surferboy, What was the cause of the chicks death on July 12.?
I’m not sure but here are two different takes on it. The first one posted by Betty. The second by Carol.
I just spoke with CCMNH about the missing chick. About a week ago it disappeared from the nest overnight when there is no camera. They don’t know what happened. They did go out into the marsh looking but found nothing. Also Mom likes to perch on top of the camera so when the chick looks alone it is not. So sad, they also had a very young chick pushed out of the nest early on. So glad our chicks are doing so well.
The chick that hatched from the egg that was laid in that nest died from starvation. The other chick that was fostered into the nest was older and bigger, so it was keeping that one from eating. There wasn’t enough fish being brought to the nest, either. I watched that chick die. It did not disappear from the nest. I saw the female remove the body a day or two later. So sad.
Thank you for the update! Yes, so sad and hard to watch.
Bittersweet picture. Thinking of old times – not quite ready to leave forever. I will miss seeing these guys grow up.
Check in here: https://ccmnh.org/attractions/osprey-cam Tough year on this nest but the one has not yet fledged.
Guarding the nest…not quite ready to let go
Sounds like there’s definitely someone standing on the camera. A lot of scritchy sounds of feet re-adjusting…I’m guessing Rachel (or one of the others) is roosting just out of our range of vision.
Now wish we had another camera facing this camera that continually pans left to right! Then we could see how close they do roost. OK – wishful thinking 🙂
Hi, responded…
Point taken A2Z but unfortunately, never mind this sandbar, but worldwide there are hundreds of thousands of raptor nests mounted on electric related poles and towers.
Then 3
<3
(That’s supposed to be a heart emoji…. oh well! 😉
2 for break-fish
Osprey at ball field Shore Rd Pocasset near Monk Park
Absolutely! I moved here 7 yrs ago and at that time a pair was there & each yr since. I believe ball field maintenance cut power during nesting. I saw 2 adults & 2 juveniles who are flying. Seems like many athletic fields have Osprey nests. Noticed another at Falmouth High-school…
Tuned in at 10:27 7/31 to find the male and female (no offspring) on the nest. Have not seen the male sit on the nest like this since mating time. 10:35 they flew off together.
Do you remember when Rachel left last year? I seem to recall once the chicks are flying & fishing she departs leaving Carson & chicks behind to master their skills & build strength for their 1st journey south…maybe what you saw was their moment of accomplishment & soon it will be time to migrate south
I would agree with your recollection. At least one of her offspring is not fishing yet, maybe both. I have read research that says the female will leave the nest but not the area. They say she will spend some time locally rehabing herself through food and flight before she is ready to migrate.
Looks like this chick is still asking to be fed…thanks for the info
Beautiful Rachel alone at the nest on a gentle summer evening.
Majestic!!!
Stunning pic!
❤️
Thank you for the photo
screenshot of the 3 juveniles in nest 7-30-23 9:17 a.m.
7-39-23 9:11 a.m. 3 juveniles in the nest?
Going to be a beautiful Cape Cod day…
Where our little friends may winter…
https://www.audubon.org/news/where-do-ospreys-go-winter
Simply amazing! Thank you
Early breakfast …..5:25 am
Everything was peaceful in nest with Rachel, Delta & Echo. Then lighting & heavy rain moved in. Both chicks performed a rain dance. Not sure if they are celebrating the rain or not. Pretty lively…Rachel just watched
Nice picture
Thanks! Maybe Glenn will post 07/29 22:04ish
Got it – thanks! Luckily, the really bad storms just missed our area!
Very lucky! Hail & tornadoes would not be fun for us or the Ospreys
I wonder if the rain felt good, cleaning the feathers off.🤷♀️Great shot of the action!