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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.
How exciting practically two at once!
5:45 am large fish delivery with 2 hungry chicks.
at around 19:24 on May 20 it looks like Carson is eating a fish and feeding Rachel while she sits on the eggs/chicks.
That is so nice to see! He did the same thing last night around this time as well. So very helpful knowing how she needs it.
It’s gonna be a cold one in the nest tonight😟
Looks like one hatched!
feeding
Feeding chicks time 2:05 pm
May 20th at 10:45 Looks like 2 chicks have hatched. Definitely one Eating fish.
So do we have Lima & Mike
Lima ? or November ?
Lima and Mike. The next one will be November.
Thank you Glenn 😀
So happy to finally see the chicks…I hope the weather doesn’t get too rough for them🙏🏻
Hopefully a peaceful summer🐣🐣🐣
Rachel receives fish
View of 2 chicks 🐣
Usually the first born dominates the younger chick’s. I wonder how things will go this year. Maybe a more peaceful nest?🤞
First feeding 6:56
Two chicks 🐣!! One seems to have hatched 4:20am-ish Osprey Time.
is it possible that we have 2 babies? looks like one in front and one in back. taken 6 am tues 5/20
Looks like 2 chicks moving underneath! Around 5:55
The nest was briefly empty at 5:54 and there definitely two heads moving
Wow! I did see 2 heads bobbling around 5:54! ❤️ That explains why Carson was feeding Rachel last night.
05/20/25 at 04:55 the bird on the nest was moving what looked like an empty shell with its beak and a few minutes later I think there was movement under the bird when it rose up a little. There may be a chick to occupy the day. I’ll let the morning people confirm.
think you’re right we have a baby!!
I’ve never seen Carson feed Rachel before – using the same method that Rachel would feed the chicks. Any idea why he would do that? See 5/19/25 18:58 of video
In hindsight, I can see why. They knew the chicks about to break through. Carson was just a tiny bit early in getting ready! What a good dad 🙂
Thanks for that clip!
You’re welcome.
A squirrel tried to get into the nest. Video clip…. https://youtu.be/aeH33jeuUMo
Thank you for that clip! I did get a chuckle.
You’re welcome.
4:47 Carson flies in to protect the nest from an overhead intruder.
Has anyone tried the app Merlin Bird ID. It’s great to see what birds are around you.
My sister just did it, it’s pretty amazing and fun. Will be doing it too!
That app is fantastic. I thought I heard an eagle a few weeks ago and quickly opened up the Merlin app and it did recognize the bird call as an Eagle! I was so pleased to know that we have an eagle flying somewhere around our area!
3 eggs visible…
I just saw a pair of sparrows on the lower left corner of the nest box (11:30ish). One came out of what looks like a grassy patch in the sticks. Do they have a nest in there too?
Yes, they’ve shared the nest in the past too. It’s a symbiotic relationship – the sparrows do some housecleaning and in return get protection from predators.
A little morning nest cleaning
She sleeps peacefully!
She’s resting now for what comes soon 🐣🐣🐣
Carson watches over Rachel…
Should we expect a chick this week?
Yes—based on the past 3 seasons the first chick should hatch 5/17. This will be the earliest since the cam was up 🙏🤞🐣
Should be an exciting weekend! ☺️🤞
Happy Mother’s Day Rachel 👏🥰😍
hope Carson brings you a beautiful fish and gives you time to stretch your wings
Happy Mother’s Day indeed to our beautiful Rachel! I’ve been thinking of her all day! Hope she’s soaking up the sun!
Carson has been such a good nest builder. He’s always bringing back something for the nest. It looks fantastic and so ready for the chicks!
Carson guards nest while Rachel sleeps…💕
I like to see Carson on guard on the nest at night. About time
Hi Glenn. To late to see the May 1st 3rd Osprey at the nest? See keving’s reply to Debbie, from three days ago. Thank you
Thanks for the reminder, Karen. I just posted some portions of this to the highlights. Note the care Rachel takes to protect the eggs as she wards off the intruder. Very skillfully handled by her!
Thanks for posting those Glenn! That was a very persistent visitor yeash, good job Rachel.
Thank you Glenn
I took a look over the course of the night and Carson was on perch from 8pm until around 3:30am. Wow.
I noticed that around 1:30 am as well. That’s different…..🤔
Carson must be worried. I did notice another nest close to them. But didn’t see anyone in it
2 in the nest again tonight.
Is that common
5/1/25 from 14:14 and for about 10-15 minutes afterwards there were several incidents of one osprey diving towards the nest and being confronted by the osprey in the nest. It may be too late to rewind video but all may not be peaceful in the neighborhood and the second osprey in the nest at night may be a nightwatch. Seems like a good job for the night owl.
Carson is sleeping on the nest too. Never seen that before