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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.
and we have liftoff!!
8:10 am. EMPTY NEST
Rachel alone in the nest. 8AM
21:33 Fish Coma
crazy on goings with Rachel and a chick fighting for one fish and Carson bringing fish number two. Starting around 6:50 AM on 7/19.
I went back and saw the chick had the fish from the wrong end! From what I have learned, they eat the fish head first. The chick was trying to eat the tail and the poor fish head was flapping up and down :-O. Then mom gets her talons on it and starts with the head. Here are a couple pics.
A tug of war for the fish between mom and chick! Mom won 🙂
Thought for sure #3 was going to go about 5:23-5:24 am this morning. There were just 2 in the nest. #3 flew back and forth across the nest a few times. The other chick then took off and flew a lap around the nest and returned, as if to demonstrate how its done. #3 thought about it, but did not go…I think he will go today
Glenn…a couple of questions. Isn’t it too early for the young to migrate? I thought Dad sticks around with the young for teaching purposes and everyone will migrate by September. I’m not sure but does Mom usually leave first?
Right, the migration won’t begin until sometime in August. Rachel will leave first, but Carson will stay around until the fledglings become self-sufficient. They are still totally dependent on the parents for food, and it will likely be another few weeks before they even start learning to hunt on their own. Even though they are not in the nest all the time, they remain in the area and will either return for a meal or might be fed at another nearby location. One by one, they’ll all migrate South by mid September.
I’m looking at the nest, 9:30pm. There are only 2 ospreys in the nest. Rachel & the last chick to leave?
It’s too early for any of them to have left. They’ll roost in nearby trees, posts, docks, buildings or any suitable structure, even moored boats. There’s a second, possibly abandoned nest, on the roof and chimney of the WBNERR visitor center where they may be spending time away from the nest.
Thank you. I have learned so much through this live webcam and your shared knowledge.
Nice shot of mom and the kids all lined up 16:22pm
love it 😍!
Very cool pic 😎 nature at her finest
Rachel feeding 2 chicks
7/15 around18:26 2 chicks out and flying around. Only one chick in the nest
Again at 18:38, very short flights
Much better take off, fly by, and landing today at 15:41. No nestmate incoming crashes. lol
5:53:15 ish Mom and Dad each come to nest with breakfish!
breakfast with the entire family
Love the family pic!
Very nice family portrait!
Hotel enjoys breakfast on nest…who’s next to take fight???
assume it will be india, and possibly today. the triplets are doing a lot of flapping and hotel just took off, circled and landed back as if showing the others how to do it.
Rachel (or Carson) brought a fish at 5:37am. Hotel immediately grabbed it and would not share. His siblings did not even try. The pecking order is clearly established in that nest.
posting at 8:00pm. glad that hotel made it back but now there are 3 on the nest and thinking one is Rachel. did hotel take off again?
Hotel has some work to do with his landings, especially if there’s others in the nest.
If anyone missed the return of Hotel, I posted it to the highlights. It was not the most graceful landing!
Wow! Thanks for posting
Brought back memories of a friend who was a Navy pilot describing his training to land on a carrier – takes some practice!
Thank you for posting the landing as a highlight. That was so funny.
Thank you Glenn. That was priceless 😄
Yay! All back home 5:10 pm. Dad brought fish! Very vocal crew!
🤗
Hotel returns!
Around 4:00 I saw an osprey up on the roof nest. I think it might be hotel. Around 3:30, an osprey attempted to enter the live camera nest, but Rachel fought them off. I’m hoping that it wasn’t Hotel trying to enter the nest but a different bird, couldn’t tell though.
What time was that? Any further possible sightings?
Hotel is flying around and so is mom and dad. I’ve seen him twice go to land in the other nest (has his feet out) and then changes his mind. He can definitely see and hear his siblings so surprised he hasn’t gone back.
sure hoping that this is hotel and carson flying above🙏
If any local viewers are able to check on Hotel, please report on what activity you see in the chimney nest or other nearby spots where he/she may be perched. New fledglings are still dependent on the adults for food, so it is likely that Rachel or Carson would be delivering meals to Hotel. I guess you could call it room service.
6:15 – only 2 in the nest! Check 4:30am for takeoff and 5:28am for the return.
Hotel left, what happens now, is he ok?
Where is the rewind???
Yes. Where is the rewind?
Found it. At the bottom of the screen. (The red line I believe.)
Tap on the Red bar under the video to go back in time. You can check the time stamp after you tap to see what time it is.
Yes, it was wonderful to be able to go back to watch the take off!
I also used the rewind feature- didn’t want to miss the excitement. Great day!!! Is it unusual for such a long period before returning to the nest?
Glen, love the 12-hour rewind upgrade! I went back to 10:03 and saw first chick fledge! Love it!
Hotel has found their way onto the abandoned visitor center chimney nest!
Emily, thanks for sharing that! I didn’t realize the chimney nest was abandoned? Did that pair never return this year, or just fail to breed and left? But glad to see Hotel has a safe place to roost nearby.
Hi Glenn, we figured out that the nest failed last week since we hadn’t seen the adults or the chick for a few days. Hotel’s landing is the first activity I’ve seen up there since last Thursday.
It looks like the male is still around though- after I sent in the picture, I saw that someone was sitting on the lightning rod and chased hotel off. I’m still keeping an eye out for Hotel, at least whenever there’s a break in the rain.
I was watching earlier this morning say to myself fledging will come shortly due to the length of time the She/He was flyimg side to side in the nest and then hovering!
Hear I am checking the progress and it happened 🦅.
I’m assuming it was Hotel, at 55 days old. He/she missed a meal, but there’s a whole new world to explore!
Simply amazing! Time to go fishing
Now we’re all awaiting his/her safe return…was this Hotel? Missing late breakfast.
🤗
Lift-off!!!
10:03:11
First ospelet to fledge!