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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.
A black plastic garbage bag was brought back to the nest this morning.I always worry about the potential hazard plastic waste may cause!
Plastic bag! 7:08
Thanks everyone for posting the time and screen shots! I’d say we definitely have 4 chicks now. Welcome Kilo! With nice warm weather predicted for the next couple of weeks, they are more likely to survive vs. last year’s cold, wet beginning. But as others have pointed out, it’s unusual for 4 chicks to survive to fledge, but we’ll be rooting for all of you!
Rachel moves away 1/2 of a shell
Kilo? was that your broken egg that Rachel moved out of her way around 6:11?
I believe I just saw Rachel remove 1/2 an egg shell but not sure & couldn’t get a pic. Time 6:12am 05/25
Definitely a shell
Rachel removing 4th shell?
great shot!
Hello Everyone. I’ve been watching these lovely birds all season. Thought I’d join the chat. Can’t wait to watch these little ones grow!
Rachel returns
Rachel flies off & Carson sits with chicks…he began eating but I did not see him feeding chicks
Just now at 11:28
🐟 fish delivery
Foggy morning. Still 3 chicks and one egg.
That sequence with the intruder was hard to watch. I’m not sure I even want to post it and it went on for a long time (too long to post). At first, it seemed a friendly encounter but then it looked like the intruder tried to mate with Rachel and it got ugly after that. The chicks and the remaining egg were at great risk, but all worked out in the end and it’s quiet now. Rachel seems to have lost a feather in the turmoil.
very hard to watch, Carson was trying to help
My 1st year observing this remarkable osprey family. Is the intruder event that we saw this morning unusual? As others have posted, it was difficult to watch. But, to see those parents protecting their young and each other was amazing.
I didn’t see the footage (maybe I’m glad I didn’t), but what sort of intruder was it?
Another osprey. Maybe the one that originally tried to claim the nest (and Rachel) last month.
Lunch is served. 3 chicks!!!
All three being fed on this stormy Cape Cod morning. 🐟
Thunderstorms moving in. who knows how to give Rachel an umbrella ☔️?
Janet is our umbrella ☂️ lady! This first round has passed without any rain on them.
Rachel is definitely on high alert right now. Very vocal! Where’s Carson?
Looks like Carson showed up and is chasing the other away but still trying to dive bomb the nest
hope Glenn can post
Yikes! don’t know who this is (maybe the first male that showed up this season) but around 8:56 he started dive bombing the nest to the point that Rachel left the nest to go after him
Poor Rachel. It looks like there is an uninvited guest divebombing her. She is so protective of her little ones.
I was watching that. Happened a few times.
There is a strange osprey in the nest! One of last year’s chicks perhaps?
Congratulations to the proud parents! The names of the chicks are so unique. I’m assuming there’s a good story about how they were selected.
The names are from the NATO phonetic alphabet if I remember correctly.
Thank you.
Morning Juliet!
Hello Juliet.
That is great news ❤️.
We now have Hotel (hatched May 20), India (hatched May 21) and now Juliet (hatched 5/23).
🥰
Rachel hasn’t given us too many glimpses of the new chick this morning, but I did manage to find one sequence of them all being fed. Just posted that. Welcome #3 (Juliet)!
so kilo should be 3 days behind juliet-at least the weather this year should be better than last year. thanx for the video!
Looks like we can welcome a new baby!
Carson keeps bringing back fish multiple times a day and the whole family are eating like kings and queens!
There was so much food today that Carson and Rachel were feeding each other instead of the chicks
Is it fairly certain that the other 2 eggs are not going to hatch at this point? Carson is doing his part on feeding the 2 little chicks an afternoon fish snack.
I am hoping the last two eggs should hatch by tomorrow – fingers crossed 🤞.
There were 3 days between when eggs 2 & 3 were laid and another 3 days between eggs 3 & 4. So they could hatch that far apart as well. My guess is for the 3rd chick to hatch tomorrow and the fourth a couple of days later. There’s no need for concern at this point – it’s typical for ospreys eggs to hatch staggered like this.
2:51pm – Carson just arrived with another fish.
1pm – Carson just delivered lunch.
Thank you Glenn for posting the videos 😀 really nice to watch. Rachel and Carson are building a fort 😄 room for four 🙏🤞
This is my 1st year watching this wonderful cam. I have learned so much reading the comments & watching Rachel & Carson. What a gift this is. Thank you!!
Carson brings a nice fish to the nest (herring maybe?).
Wow! Thanksgiving feast in May!
Amazing catch, both you & Carson
😀
More feeding
Nice. This is the second feeding cause they got an early morning snack around 5am 🙂
Chicks being fed
Love that pic.
Feeding time
I just caught the end of a morning feeding at 7:35. Looked like both got equal shares!
OMG. I had forgotten how tinyand vulnerable chicks are at this stage!
Some serious interior decorating for the hatchlings starting at 3:57-4:03 plus this afternoon. Both very engaged!
I noticed the nest upgrades as well. It was cute to see them both rearranging twigs, which gave a great shot of the two chicks.
That’s one big fish Carson brought…….