If video is not appearing above, click here to refresh this page. Also try clearing your browser cache, closing and restarting your browser or restarting your device.
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.
Mansfield Mass. Ospreys have returned! Junction of 495 and 140 by the hotel!
Hi Jim, do you have a link to this pair of osprey? Is there a cam? I searched Mansfield MA osprey and the first hits were for Oxford MA.
I looked at video from when one of the osprey arrived this morning around 2:38am and kept an intense look downwards for quite some time – for over an hour. Then around 5:31 the other osprey was screeching around for a couple minutes before landing in the nest. Something was out there but I heard no sounds of an owl. What was odd was that the osprey in the middle of the nest kept opening its mouth but no sound was coming out. I couldn’t distinguish between them because they always had their back to the camera!
Good catch KevinG. I agree that it’s likely been Carson camera perched on watch to ward off the owls. The nest is looking ready so first egg could be along shortly?
Glad to see the “M” which will keep the posters identifiable if not the osprey.
Breaking news 19:48:17 Osprey from nest to camera with dramatic skyline in background.
Missed it. I tried to rewind but only got back to 20:00:00
Merc, for you and others who missed some of the recent action, I’ll try to post some highlights in the next day or so. I was away for a few days, so missed much of this myself!
04/6/25 The owl hasn’t been around at its usual midnight to dawn times that I’ve seen recently but not always watching. Kevin observed a wing come over the picture and thought it might be the owl watching for rodents. I thought it might be the osprey and several mornings there has been an osprey land in the nest on a flight path that appears to be hopping down from the camera. Just before or after daylight. As if on an overnight watch. Today an osprey appeared to fly away from the camera at 19:08:30. Then, at 19:08:51 and until 19:15 or so there was a herd of at least 5 deer roaming under the nest and in the roadway. Different.
We have been watching an Osprey nest on Old Dam Road in Bourne for years. It’s a beautiful nest in a marsh area. The nest was about two feet high and was blown off its platform during this past winter. It landed in one piece on the ground next to the pole. Both ospreys returned and they spent a few days not doing anything but have started to rebuild the nest. I wonder if they are using the branches and such from the old nest or starting with new materials. Whoever maintains that nest have put new supports up because it had a lean happening and put a second perch on the ground. It has two perches on the platform. It’s quite a structure in a beautiful setting.
Have there been any further owl sightings or has that totally resolved itself?
For the nights that I have rewound and checked, I have not seen any owls! A great thing. I think Rachel and Carson are definitely settled in cause I have seen many mating sessions – chicks are soon to come 🙂
Thanks good news!!
I am impressed with the nest building progress. I keep forgetting that this is not Rachel and Carson’s first rodeo!
Cape Cod Times
https://www.capecodtimes.com/picture-gallery/news/2025/03/31/ospreys-return-cape-cod-ma-nest-behind-dennis-yarmouth-high-school/82730552007/
Wow! that is a Mansion osprey nest! The pics are great snapshots of the hard work they do to get ready for the season! I see a similar grand nest on route 25 west, right over the Bourne Bridge around mile marker 7-ish. Always check it whenever we go off cape but our speed is too fast to get a good glimpse.
That platform looks rough.
😂 I always look for that one on W25 too! Very impressive and has been there many years.
This doesn’t look like Rachel to me? This female looks smaller?
I agree. These are 2 much younger, smaller, and inexperienced nest builders than last years duo.
Nice nest remodel, looks ready to go 🥚
carson brought a fish for rachel but wasn’t letting go 😂
😂😵💫
Looks like both are working on the nest
Rachel has been doing some good nest defense! Squawking up a storm and literally shoving off an intruding osprey with her beak (around 7:50am). This intruder appeared to be just looking for a place to eat a fish tail!
Must be Love 💕
Eggs will be laid in less than 2 weeks. They need a better bed of moss (or whatever) for the eggs. Right now it looks a little rough 😬
Together on nest 🥰
So happy to see them together at the nest. Seem to be looking out for something. One is calling out, and being answered. Possibly Juliet or sibling?
Loving to finally see Carson and Rachel spending time together in their nest today:)
single osprey in nest at 05:48 arrived at 04:48. Maybe of the opinion that possession is 9/10 of the law.
I love Carson’s “attack stance” in protection of their nest!
never mind. they just mated
can anyone explain this behavior? it seems odd to me. i believe that is carson in the lower left corner. his demeanor reminds me of a child sent to the corner. and i think that is rachel with her back to the camera
Looks like Carson keeps looking into the trees before he move a stick. Must be asking Rachel “.honey, where do you want me to put this stick? Over here or over there ??”
👏
Funny! 😄
carson has been nest building. rachel still sleeping somewhere?
Here
thats they way it was made with spaces
Thank you, Tony!
Wow. Thanks.
Looks like piece of wood is missing under nest?
Ditto!
Yummy! Late afternoon fish-snack 🐟
I just posted some of last night’s interaction between owl and Carson.
https://www.friendsofmashpeenationalwildliferefuge.org/osprey-nest-cam-highlights-season-four-2025/
I’m so thankful for all your posts. I love being able to go back and see what I missed!
New building materials inbound and placed in the nest at 7:06am so the owl/osprey ownership dispute will continue for another day.
Thank you Kevin & Lorene for early postings! Let the nest reconstruction begin!!!
There is a longer comment from KevinG but it is waiting approval. Look for owl osprey interaction at 03:52:57. This is from KevinG
WOW! Kevin, thank you for this. I can’t believe the screeching sound coming from Carson. He surely woke up the neighborhood. I am surprised not to see Rachel involved but I’m sure she was awake in a close by tree monitoring the situation!
I have noticed lately that both Rachel and Carson seem to know there is something awry with the nest and maybe that’s why there has not been much nest building.
This is the Kevin now calling himself KevinG. Owl arrived from the right of the nest at 03:52:57 with a large something in its talons. It was there until just before the arrival of an osprey from the rear of the nest at 03:58:54. This was almost simultaneous. The owl appeared to be in a hurry while the osprey just landed on the nest edge. It was still there at 05:20.
great catch!!! Hope that Glenn will post it .
Went back through the feed the owl comes in at just after 3:52 with a rodent so if anyone is interested to watch the sequence kinda fascinating. The osprey’s start yapping at the owl around 3:55. Prior to the owl coming back you can totally hear the rustling on top of the camera as Kevin pointed out! Wonder who? Owl leaves with rodent and leaves the nest to osprey who is still on the nest now at 5:20 am. Sorry for blurry screen shot the owl comes in so fast and smooth! Beautiful creatures all!
Thank you too!
WOW!!! Thanx so much for this. my first look at the owl. I hope 🤞 he leaves the nest to Rachel and Carson
Osprey looked much larger in comparison maybe this will get sorted out after all 🤞
At 3:57 AM owl on the nest hooting up a storm and looking all around and then up and you can also hear osprey in the background. Then (it looks) like Rachel flies in and the owl leaves and the osprey is still on the nest at 4:34am. Will post screenshots
The wing
This is not Kevin talking to himself. It’s bad enough we can’t distinguish the osprey but now there are two Kevins .My name autofils but I will try and change it to KevinG. I’ve posted before generally about the owl. So whose or whoooos wing is it .At least twice recently I’ve seen an osprey fly from the nest directly towards the camera and the camera shakes. I’ve also seen the rodent emerge from the center of the nest and run around. I don’t know if the osprey care for rodent but I know the owl does and I’d be inclined to believe the bird on the camera is an osprey as an owl wouldn’t have given the rodent a second chance. I recall a few similar wing shows last year when it was just osprey in the story. Maybe a camera to watch the camera?
😂👍
Great shot Kevin! I wonder now if that could be the ospreys wing feathers? It looks kinda like the wing in the picture of (Rachel?) landing on the nest in picture from 3:58 this am?
So I think I know what may be contributing to the owl dilemma. I had the screen of my iPad open with the sound up and suddenly heard noise close to the camera, and then looked to see long wing feathers come down into the camera view. So I Used the rewind feature and saw that a small rodent with eyes shining bright came up out of the hole in the center of the nest, and then in an instant scurried over the far side. The owl was obviously perched on the camera and waiting to pounce. If the rodents have a nest beneath the platform it’s keeping them focused for a meal. I’m sure the Osprey if in trees nearby, can see the owl and it’s keeping them from resuming their occupancy. Listening for over 10 minutes I could occasionally hear noise right next to the camera coming from the owl, shuffling on its perch.
Listening for over 10 minutes I could occasionally hear noise right next to the camera coming from the owl, shuffling on its perch.
Screenshots attached
Carson working on nest repairs. He keeps falling through the hole in the center. Better fix that pronto!!
I was reading up on owls vs osprey. It horrible, are little family might not be safe.