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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.
This is so sad. We’ve been fortunate to witness 3 consecutive years of 2-3 chicks fledging each season, and it’s incredibly heartbreaking to see this year end so suddenly with a different outcome. It’s hard to see what happened. Once the chicks stop moving, it’s nearly impossible to discern them from the nest material. I don’t think they fell through a hole in the nest as some have suggested; more likely they just quickly expired and we no longer can see them. The nest was deep enough and the platform was extremely strong, so I don’t think that was a contributing factor.
At 9 days old, I thought the chicks appeared smaller than previous years. They seemed to be regularly fed, so it’s possible it was disease or some other natural factor that contributed to their deaths. I know we’d like to have a definitive answer, but all we can do is speculate about what led to this sad result.
I reached out to an osprey expert who said it would be too late in the season to try again, but the adults will still maintain and guard the nest for the remainder of the season. For whatever small consolation it is, we can still observe Rachel and Carson this year and hope next year will have the outcome that we all expect and hope for.
I appreciate you all for your ongoing observations, thoughts and comments. We all grieve in experiencing this and can support one another – thank you for that.
Thank you, Glenn. 🙁
Hi Glenn I viewed video last night and actually saw one chick disappear into next at 05-29-2025 19:10:30 see pic
Thanks Dena. I watched that also, but I thought even before it disappeared into the nest, it seemed weak and listless. Probably sick.
Yes, I agree, about 15 minutes give or take the chick was chirping continuously & after several attempts to sit while chick was chirping Rachel stood up & all I could see was chick disappearing into nest. That’s when she stretched out her wings and look down to where the chick was & was gone.I knew then there was nothing Rachel could do or anyone. I think it was last yrs chick did the exact same thing & I went immediately to reserve to look, no results just wishful hopes
Could it have been bird flu?
Just checked after a couple of days for my osprey fix and oh no…….how very very sad. Thanks Glenn and everyone else for all for the observations on this. Bless you Dena for going over to look under the nest.
Thank you, Glenn for all this information.
oh no 😥. when Rachel only laid 3 eggs, I was so hopeful that the full clutch would survive. these deaths have been beyond bizarre and heartbreaking
Could the Great Horned Owl got the chicks?
Hi,
I am concerned this morning – I do not see the chicks nor Rachel and Carson coming to the nest.
What may have happened.
Concerned viewer!
Bob Johnson
Such sad news. I wonder if Rachel & Carson will stay in the area or leave. The summer won’t be the same without watching this family grow.
😢😥😓🫢😰. I can’t believe it. I feel so bad.
Is it possible they will try again and is there still time to do so? I know that the piping plovers last year on Sandy Neck had a storm wipe out their nests and they again started over. No idea on this but am hopeful.
Maybe the other possibility is that there were other critters sharing the nest beneath that created the void?
Good thought especially if they were pulling nesting material from below to make their own nest. Either way it’s tragic to think of them falling out.
Immediately Rachel knows something is terribly wrong
So saddening that this happened. Wondering if the base of the platform from moisture became degraded to the point that the nest materials lost support and slowly caved in? The chicks seemed to slowly settle lower into the void. I remember that the nest platform was replaced previously so perhaps it just didn’t hold up?
I just looked back at recording, see posted time on pic
It appears chick fell through nest at this time 😢
I can’t see any chicks.
Checking in on the chicks and didn’t see any. Saw everyone’s comments. Watching replay of earlier footage around 19:11 and only saw one chick. It appears that maybe the two remaining live chicks possibly fell through the soft material through the bottom of the nest. It looked like they were quite low to begin with. So sad 😞 Nature can be difficult sometimes to watch. Rachel appeared to be looking for them. Summer won’t be the same this year 🙁
I don’t understand what happened. I always check in before I go to bed. I was never expecting this. My heart is heavy.
After reading Antone’s comment I went back to 19:10 and watched with magnifying glass, it looks like there was a hole! And baby just slipped through whilst Mom helplessly watched. How awful!!
I watched too & posted pics with time & messaged Glenn…I can’t believe what I saw…the next that keeps them safe failed…
What is that
Incredibly sad!!! I can hear an Osprey sitting on camera out of view 😢 a few chirps…any idea what happened & when? I just read through comments. I’m heartbroken as all of you are
I use to do bird rehab, feeding chicks with eye dropper and then you go to do a regular feeding and they’re suddenly dead. And that’s indoors in a controlled environment. It’s obviously massively more difficult for chicks when they’re out in the wild elements. So sad to see Mama fixated on green stick, moving it around nest for 11 minutes. I shall miss my daily watch of chicks growing up 😢!!!
Don’t see the chicks and she’s rearranging the nest.
I watched the tape. At 5:05pm one chick there and wiggling. She sits down Then by 5:10 she gets up and no movement. She flies away for a minute. Then back and dropping sticks on top of the lifeless chick. She is distraught. Moving sticks around. So sad. Will they mate again???? 😢
Nest was empty. She came back but I don’t see the chicks
At 19:09:56 the remaining chick went through a hole in the nest. You can see and hear him drop & apparently the crows are aware as well. So sad.
I am not seeing any chicks either☹️
Both chicks gone! See reply below to Kathy’s post
I was scrolling through today’s tape and it appears that at the 4 pm feeding today (5/29) it looks like there is only one chick (and the chick looks like is stuck in the nest, i.e. not able to move around much). Two chicks visible at the 10 am feeding. At the noon feeding today it looks like only one chick eating but difficult to see clearly.
I just looked back in time and at 19:06 the chick was there, but a few minutes later at 19:10 Rachel got up and started looking and there was no chick!
at 19:09:40 looks like baby chick is slipping thru the base of the nest…………….At 19:10:29 looks like adult bird got up pushed chick thru base of nest
Thanks to all of you who support the Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge! If you’re not a current member, please join our group and show your support for the osprey cam and much more!
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I believe this is the exact time chick falls through nest
Watched prior for about 10 minutes & chick visibly struggling & chirping
Absolutely devastating
7:55am 5/28 – Fish delivery!
One chick beating down sibling pretty bad around 8:01. Not fun to watch, but understand ospreys have survived for thousands of years and this behavior has always existed.
That was ‘sqwacking’ for Carson … All good now as the little one righted itself with great effort at 16:37
That was too funny. The same thing happened the other day. Probably the same chick was on its back and its feet were kicking in the air. I can say now that it was funny – cause everything turned out ok!
Distress 4:30 pm: Youngest Chick is tipped over on its back … Rachel doesn’t seem to know what to do; keeps stacking for Carson.
Watching the chicks getting their nice fish lunch is such a joy. 😊
the babies are alone! 3:21 pm may 27.
Has anyone seen any activity in the sparrow nest since the storm? I haven’t been able to catch any.
Cute feeding at 8:14 am 5/27
I’m a little late but at 9am Carson brought back another nice sized fish. The waterways are surely stocked cause he has been getting some nice dinners. Such a fantastic angler!!!
🙂 so glad the chicks are great !!
Both chick alone in the nest @8:26:25. Mom returned at 8:42.
Is there an audio issue or is it on my end?
there’s been an audio problem
Thank you.
During the 7:30 feeding one of the chicks somehow rolled onto its back and feel kicking upwards. Shortly after Rachel didn’t seem to upright the chick and sat on them. I sure hope everything turns out ok. Carol if I knew how, I would have posted a short YouTube clip!
All is well, both chicks eating 7:55
Oh no. One of the chicks fell backwards while feedig and cant get up.
And now just got sat on! 7:35 pm
Just saw chicks, I’m 5 days behind.
Great clip of the fish battle. Thank you for posting