The other night at Nauni's birthday dinner, my uncle stepped out onto the deck to warm up from the AC. He gazed out over the creek and spotted a very large bird on a rock. Little did he know that would become the central focus of the evening (second to my grandmother's 83rd, of course). I immediately identified the osprey by its black cheek stripes- dramatic across its white head. It had a large silver fish in it talons, and let me tell you, readers, that bird went ahead and settled in with that fish. It started eating it at about 8:00 at night, and I am here to report that bird was still out there eating that fish in the middle of the muddy, rain swollen creek 12 hours later. We have never seen an osprey back here in the creek. They prefer larger bodies of water- like the the ocean or the French Broad or Beaver Lake. I have seen them sometimes at the Laurel River (my friend Worm told me once in an email from the war in Afganastan that there was some sort of osprey release program at the Laurel River back in '94- who knows what kind of info that is, but usually I have found his tall tales to be true....) I guess it was just a birthday treat of sorts for Nauni that this guy or gal came up the little creek for an all night long dinner.
The osprey took flight away from its feasting spot at approximately 9:30 am.
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