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Welcome to “Season Three” 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 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.
I have a house in seacoast shores, I was just out with my 2 little rat terriers. I could hear a osprey. I was hoping it might be Carlson. Well when I looked up 5 ospreys were circling over my house.
I’m sure Rachel knows a frost is coming tonight.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/mashpee/02649/weather-forecast/2089206
(For those out of state, Mashpee is in Barnstable county.)
The nest is actually in Falmouth, at the Waquoit Bay Reserve. Here’s a “Did you know…?” tip for anyone interested… Did you know the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge was named, not after the Town of Mashpee, but for the Mashpee Wampanoag Ttibe. The refuge is in both Mashpee and Falmouth. (But the weather is pretty much the same in the 2 towns!)
At about 5:30 this morning, Carson returned to relieve a frost-covered Rachel to take his turn on the eggs. Rachel then flew off to warm up her wings.
Should we be concerned about the frost damaging the eggs?
I wouldn’t think so. It’s not unusual for overnight lows to drop below freezing in April. And of course, that’s why they sit on the eggs – it’s nice and warm underneath!
Good to know, thank you!
Oh Wow 😮 Is that frost on Rachel 😬
Sure does look like it.
But on this picture it does look that way! Was it that cold last night up there?
Yes, we had a terrible freeze last night. That is frost! I live a few miles away. It was 30 degrees. Ithink less in some areas. Destroyed flowers on Magnolias.
low temps predicted again tonight. 🙁
I think it just looks like the morning light glinting off her feathers 🤔. If it was frost it would also be on the higher parts of the nest around her it would seem.
Lorene, It sure did look like frost 😬😱 We had low temps of 34 as seen in one of the pics I posted at 5:21am. Then Barry pretty much confirmed it was a frost with another pic at a later time and different perspective. I had noticed the same thing on April 21st. Here is a pic from that day – that I did not post.
It sure does!
Watching this gives me faith that nature perseveres, at least for now.
Just beautiful. Thanks !
Around May 19 we may see the first hatchling , based on last years schedule…..
Around 38 days incubation? Does that sound right?
https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/2018/05/when-are-the-osprey-eggs-going-to-hatch/
We could see it happen anytime after May15 perhaps….