Hang Gliders

Sometimes I do more watching than anything else.  While I am out and about the hillside, I watch the critters.  Even when I am supposedly working, I keep an eye open for whatever critter makes its way into my vicinity.  Some of my favorite critters are the large birds of prey.  They seem to demand attention and usually get it!  I wish I would have had my camera ready today while Michael (once again) was on the rooftop fixing those rotten boards.  Two eagles flew just a few feet above his head!  I suppose they were wondering just what in the world he was doing up there.  We watched as they circled overhead a couple of times before heading back into the creek area.  The eagles were great but it was an osprey that really caught my eye.

I watch the ospreys nearly every day.  Living on the Bayou, these birds are an every day sight.  They fish in the Bayou itself and nest down in the creek area.  The tall Black Gum trees and Red Maples offer them plenty of nesting sites.  The osprey, today, was fishing.  The north wind had pushed the tide far out leaving just a small stream in the Bayou.  A good many small mullet were trapped by the receding tide and had no place to escape the talons of the osprey.

I was amazed by how the bird could hang suspended nigh on motionless in the sky while picking its target fish.  With just the slightest of wing movement, the osprey hovered about forty feet above the water.  Once it had chosen its prey, the whole body of the bird would change position and then it would dive. The feet came down, the wings folded and the bird made a perfect aim.  I watched as it caught several fish and although, most were small, the osprey went well fed today.

Not only did the ability to hover almost motionless enthrall me but the sheer determination of the bird was interesting.  Not once did it falter in its chore.  The osprey fished..it worked for its meal.  The eagles on the other hand..well, they are not above stealing a meal when the opportunity is handed to them.  I have seen this same pair of eagles actually take a fish from the much smaller osprey.  Not this time, though!  The osprey ate well!