Its a bird! Its a plane!

  This afternoon found me on the pier as usual.  It just seems the place to go on a hot, muggy afternoon.  The cooling breeze and the promise of something to watch is always drawing me.  Usually, that "something to watch" is a critter but, occasionally, a different sort of entertainment pops up and surprises me.  This afternoon?  Its a bird!  Its a plane! 

  First, a large plane came slowly over the pines.  It was coming in for a landing at Keelser Air Force Base which is directly across the Bay from the pier.  With this view, I can watch all sorts of planes and helicopters as they come and go from the airstrip.  The plane, today, was huge!  My cousin informed me that it was a C-17.  Not being up on my planes, Michelle has to identify them for me.  The plane ever so slowly flew just above the pines and then slipped down behind them to approach the airstrip.  Watching these gigantic machines is awe inspiring.  How in the world can something so big and so slow stay up in the air??  

  While watching the plane, I spied an osprey flying over the Bayou.  The bird was hunting for its dinner and was quite oblivious to my presence.  This..this I can understand as flying!  The bird hovered almost motionless above the water then would swoop down.  Several times it made a pseudo dive only to rise back upwards.  Evidently, its prey dove out of sight just before the osprey was able to catch it. After a bit, the bird noticed me on the pier and came to investigate.  How exciting to see the bird so very close!

  Both the plane and the bird prove that sometimes it is better to look up instead of at what is in front of you.  Had I merely admired the view on the horizon instead of looking skyward, I would have missed both of the two very different "flying machines"!