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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.
Hungar, the best incentive to leave the nest
Carson needs to start checking in with multiple fish for the oldest is not going to let anyone else eat now that he self feeds.
She has the little oneright there and is ignoring feeding him. Gross for any reason.
This evening it looks like the first hatch is getting just about all the fish that was brought back to the nest! Is that because the adult knows it will fledge soon so is being allowed to fill up?
She isnt feeding the little one. Sad. Mean.
The oldest chick will not share!!!!
Well THAT wasn’t very nice!
Wow, I just saw one of the chicks back up towards the side of the nest, bend over and shoot pee over the side! Never saw any of them with these types of bodily functions! Keep it out of the nest! Good job!
One of them did that in a past year. It hit the camera and we had to look at a white blob for days – until rain washed it away LOL.
I posted before looking at other replies. I think of that year rverytime I see one of them get ready to shoot.
One year they got the camera real good. Rain eventually washed it off.
WHAT A GOOD MOTHER SHIELDING HER BABIES
Chick’s look anxious to get going!
I have never seen a bird have a sneezing fit before! It was adorable! It was in the few minutes before this: 07-01-2026 23:39:43
They’re getting more interesting to watch. Flapping their wings and even hopping a tiny bit.
When will the young ones start to fledge?
The oldest hatched on May 15th and they generally fledge at about 55-60 days, so I would estimate between July 10-15. Soon we should soon start seeing them stretch their wings and flap around the nest to get ready.
Hope the Osprey chicks will be able to cope with the extreme heat coming this week. Does anyone have any insight into how they withstand the temps?
On hot days, Rachel shields the chicks from the hot sun with her wings. Ospreys don’t drink water; they get all of their fluid needs from the fish they eat.
They also pant like dogs do.
Is there no audio?
Seems fine. Check your volume and other audio settings.
Go back to 8:30 am this morning to see 3 adults near the nest. Can’t tell who they are but looks like one was an interloper.
Is something on the camera lens? View has been obscured since 6/28
Looks like a feather or piece of fluff blew up from the nest right onto the lens. A good rain should wash it away, or maybe a strong wind.
I think it’s a spider web. Saw the architect on there at one point.(I see that a lot on other cams)
Looks like little one got no dinner?
Rachel just did an amazing job of protecting her family.
Missed it. What happened?
At least one other Osprey was diving at mother and chicks.
Thanks Kathy!
looks like a beautiful day in the neighborhood! My sister and BIL are on the cape right now, they sent me the link to this site a week or so ago, cool way to spend a few minutes a day checking them out
Chicks are so enormous. And those wings!!!!!! Wow
Some moments today when everyone was very vocal. I love listening to an osprey chorus.
2 females and 1 male ?
According to google and my VERY uninformed calculations, the chicks should fledge on July 4th! Wouldn’t that be awesome!
Well certainly lots of wing flapping from Oscar he looks like he’s getting in his practice!
The eldest chick now feeds itself.
These little ones aren’t so little anymore! Seems like they grow bigger by the hour! Even the little one! Rachael and Carson have really done a great job or rearing their young so far!
how many fish on average are brought to the nest daily? Also,what species of fish do they prefer?
I’ve seen many herring and pogies and lately I’ve seen a couple of Black Sea bass, scup and a large trout. Last year I saw the biggest summer flounder I’ve ever seen and a small shark. Today it was a big Black Sea bass at 14:35.
thanks Eddie, they eatin good lol!
Looks like someone moved or zoomed in the camera. The view is not as good, with the bottom of the nest blocked out.
Glenn zoomed in a bit so that we could see the bands.
I agree. Glenn, when you get a chance, would you please zoom out – maybe back to what it was? A view of one of the chicks and part of the nest is not in the field of view when they are sitting near the camera.
Agreed. Today looks even more zoomed in than yesterday. More of the nest is now out of frame.
I backed off the zoom about halfway. Let’s give it a day or two and see how that seems as they move to different parts of the nest and when the bands may be visible.
I was wondering if a different camera would help. This one seems somewhat pixelated while others I’ve looked at have a much sharper picture.
Looks like Dad is watching over the chicks while Mom must be searching for breakfast. The two biggest are lined up waiting and the smallest is closer to the camera She usually feeds two of them first so there is no fighting.
Yay! Glad to see Carson on duty.
Oh, he just showed up!!
We saw Rachel wave Carson off twice a few days ago when he tried to land. Maybe she told him to get lost. Hope he’s okay somewhere.
There are other osprey nests in the area. It might have been one of the other osprey, not Carson, that she chased off.
Is Carson still around? Every time I i see someone bring a fish in lately it’s Rachel. I’m getting concerned. Hopefully I’m just missing him.
I must be missing Carson too. I haven’t seen him when I check in.
Awesome photos and videos of the osprey and owl!!
Looks like the chicks are 2 female and one male?
Great shots. Thanks so much!
If you notice a change in the view, I zoomed the camera in, so the bands and ID numbers are more clearly visible. The yellow auxiliary bands are numbered S35, S36 and S37, from oldest to youngest, so “Oscar” is 35, “Papa” (or “Polka”) is 36 and “Quebec” is 37. I also just posted some videos and still shots to the Season Five highlights page.
Dont see any videos of banding yet. Just stills.
I just uploaded an additional video from the ground of one of the chicks being banded.
Amazing pictures what magnificent creatures close up! That must have been such a thrill for you and all the volunteers! Thank you for all you do.
Glenn, thank you for posting! The chicks look so much bigger when being held.
Is there any way to track the chicks when they finally fly off
We will get reports of sightings of the banded ospreys when they are reported to reportband.gov. The bands are not electronic devices, so it is dependent on people submitting a report. The numbers are designed to be visible with binoculars.
Just noticed the chicks got banded. Any video’s of the procedure?
Yes, just posted to the highlights page
If you are able to rewind till yesterday morning around 8:10ish
Any chance the library program was recorded?
No, sorry. The library does not record their events.
Hi Glen
Dave and I want to thank you for your wonderful and informative talk we attended this afternoon.
Thanks for sharing the Osprey experience.
David and Edith Ross
Glad you enjoyed it – thanks for attending!
Clock is wrong by one hour est
Sorry bar at bottom was not at current time. Clock is correct!