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 Four” of our osprey cam! Carson arrived on March 20th, 2025. 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 2025 (“Season Four”)
View highlights from 2024 (“Season Three”)
View highlights from 2023 (“Season Two”)
View highlights from last year (“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.
Today is Earth Day, celebrated for the first time in 1970. The spark for the first Earth Day was the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s ”Silent Spring” (the basis for naming our infamous osprey pair!).
VERY BRIEF HISTORY . . . .A marine biologist and best-selling author, Carson showed the devastating effects of people on nature by documenting the effect of modern pesticides on the natural world. She focused on the popular pesticide DDT, which had been developed in 1939 and used to clear islands in the South Pacific of malaria-carrying mosquitoes during World War II. Deployed as an insect killer in the U.S. after the war, DDT was poisoning the natural food chain in American waters. . . . .
thanx merc for reminding us of how fragile our world is, and how we all have a voice in protecting it.
At 8:03 Carson brings back another twig. Such a good dad with nest defense building!
At 13:56:25 Carson came in for a “quickie” and “hi-tailed” it! There is a shot at a 4th egg, but slim chances for survival. Although I did watch the Poole England Osprey nest last year that had 4 fledglings – so there could be hope! It was awesome!
14:00 great shot of eggs I was too slow for photo op!!!
At 10:32:04 Carson brings in another rather large twig and – again – watching him trying to place it while putting his butt right in Rachel’s face is rather amusing!
So funny!
since rachel laid the third egg on 4/15, can we surmise that this clutch will be 3? any egg laid going forward (oscar) probably wouldn’t stand a chance.
Last year, the eggs were spaced 8 days from the first (4/11) to the last (4/19), so it’s still possible we’ll see a 4th egg. While it is unusual for 4 chicks to survive to fledge, it is not unheard of, especially if conditions are favorable and they have a steady food supply.
Very busy nest maintenance.
Did something happen to the camera, I’m not getting a picture?
Happened to me last week. Delete the app and try again or reboot your device
Or you could clear your browser cache.
Happy Easter All 🙂
Happy Easter 🐣
Always use Chrome to access this site and you will have no problems. 🙂
Hoppy Easter!🐣
At 16:13 Carson brought back a 1/2 fish for Rachel which she flew off and enjoyed, then more mating at 16:25:20.
Rachel has been doing a lot of housekeeping today. Moving branches and clumps of grass, or leaves, what I refer to as forest schmutz. I observed them both moving and tucking branches around. It almost appears that they are making a more circular, deeper nest. If Carson thought his housekeeping duties were done, he is sadly mistaken! They are such good parents and it’s going to be a wonderful summer observing nature do it’s thing.
I noticed the constant rearranging each time they are incubating! It’s so cute to watch. Then at 14:41:32 Carson brought back a long twig and if there is a way to time lapse the approx 2 minutes, their interactions would be another short video for the bloopers. Again, they are so cute to watch.
More mating just now.
nite nite moma
😴 ☺️
It’s like a good REM sleep 😴 💤
Mr showed up with breakfast. Mrs took it and flew off for a little free time. Mr is warming the eggs. They seem to be working this all out.
Carson just arrived and is giving Rachel a much-needed break to stretch and get a bite to eat. So much fun watching these two.
WHAT, NO CAMERA TODAY. ?….
for Glenn
The scroll bar on the video feed is now about 4 hours where I believe it was 10 before.4/16/25 22:16
I guess Rachel and Carson are trying for 4 eggs! I have seen 3 mating sessions today; and I’m not even watching regularly!
What is nice to see is Carson spending quite a bit of time at the nest 🙂
do you remember when they stop mating? i think they’ve had 4 eggs the past couple of seasons. yes, and it’s good to see him hanging around-earlier this morning another osprey tried landing on the nest while both were there, and carson chased he/she off💪👍👏
A quick google search said that by the end of May the mating season generally ends, but we will have to see if that holds true! Right – they did have 4 eggs last year but only 3 fledged.
I think she had 4 eggs all previous years. The 4th hatchling has yet to survive
Be neat to see Carson stay over night with the family 😊😴
At 7:22:06 Carson brings in a nice sized branch and places it right over Rachel. It was too cute but I was getting concerned for the eggs as they decided who was going to place it and where. Im sure it is a nest protective measure. Such a good dad 🙂
That was pretty funny – I should start a “bloopers” reel to go with the highlights!
that’d be great if you have the time.🤣
3 eggs! So exciting. Great photo showing all of them.
3 EGGS! She gave us a good look after a while. It was laid at 19:57:04.
Oh beautiful! Thank you for posting! That is great news!
You’re welcome.
Yay! Thanks for the update.
You’re welcome.
🥰 thanx for posting -a great pic!!
You’re welcome.
Wow! 👍☺️
4/15/25 …She laid the 3rd egg at 19:57:04
Nope still only 2 eggs
Possibly 3 eggs when she got off them for a minute?
I see 2 eggs in the nest today but am unsure when newest egg arrived. Anybody know?
The 2nd egg was laid on 4/12. The 3rd egg is due today.
Thanks. ☺
huh- looks like we lost the camera as well as the sound. message says live stream is currently off-line
never mind- sound and pic working
I restarted the system which disabled the video for a few minutes. Both audio and video are now working – phew!
He arrived with something better to eat. She accepted it and flew off with it. Mr is sitting on the eggs now
Finally he arrives with a bit of breakfast. She gives him the “look”. Is that all you got. So he leaves and takes it with him.
At 8:12 Carson brought back a nice fish tail and Rachel wasn’t the least bit interested at all – hmmmm. He flew off with it at 8:18. He came back at 8:31 with same fish tail and flew off seconds later with it!
He brought another offer of breakfast but he flew off again with it. She must be a picky eater
No audio. Monday April 14 23:30
Is anyone else having trouble with the audio?
Yes. It’s been out for a while now – maybe 4 hours.
Yes, I have no audio either
Good pic of the two eggs
There is no audio.
the family
❤️
and the countdown for #3 is on. Hope it’s today since the weather is so nice 🙏🤞
They normally lay an egg every three days, so the third would be expected late tomorrow, 4/15.
During the day, the eggs are well-camauflaged, but at night they seem to glow in the images recorded by the infra-red camera. Here, Rachel takes a short break from her nightime sleep and we can get a clear view of the two eggs. Will we see another in the next day or two? (Reminder, there is no light shining on the nest, only infrared light which is invisible to both birds and humans, but can be captured by the camera.)
Gee they almost look like alien eggs – just kidding but they have this glow about them 😂
Gee – at 5:37 I thought Carson was going to bring in something for Rachel to eat but instead it was a quick mating and he was gone! Rachel stretched her wings and back to her being such a diligent mom!
Carson did come back at 5:43 for a quick minute and then flew off. I’m hoping he’s getting a bite to eat for Rachel. She must be getting “peckish”!
rachel you are such a good mama caring for your eggs in this crappy weather without a break. but have you eaten lately? i’ve heard an osprey in the background but haven’t seen carson.
At 8:32 Carson came in with a fish tail and wow did Rachel go after it. She took it and flew off – a well deserved break – and Carson took over incubation. She came back at 8:43 and resumed her incubation 🙂
thanx for letting me know. i hadn’t seen him and am glad he brought her a fish and gave her a break
She laid the 2nd egg, 4/12… @ 18:44:43
Fantastic! Congratulations to Rachel. Unfortunately I can’t rewind back to that time. I feel so bad that the weather is so windy and raw outside. It was 3 days ago when Rachel laid her first egg.
Hi Merc. I posted it to the highlights. Looks like we’ll be getting more of the same conditions today. Rachel is doing a great job of perservering in this weather and doing exactly what she needs to do!
Thank you!
Thanks Carol! I was watching most of the day hoping to see it happen live, but missed in the evening. Great catch – it was hard to notice with the rain on the lens. It’s posted on the highlights.
You’re welcome, Glenn. I have learned how to spot the time when an egg is coming by the female’s behavior. It was a bit hard to see through the raindrops, though, as you said.
Is that a second egg at 6:47?
Followers use facebook
Buried in snow, protecting egg