The Ultimate Fisherman

I watched an opsrey catch a large shad one day in the rain. It was so large, it struggled to get it out of the water and then dropped it. The fish must have been stunned because the osprey came back around and the fish was still there so he picked up again. He had to drag it quite a ways before he could get up enough speed to become airborne with the shad.

From birding reports I have seen recently, osprey have already arrived back in the area from the winter migration.

If you have never seen this video, I encourage you to give it a look. It shows a series of three osprey fishing. The first picks up five or six fish in one pass; in the second, the osprey dives about three feet deep to pick up a big flounder; and, in the third, well... just watch it.  You'll also see one of the osprey do a "dog shake" as I call it, pausing while flying to shake off the water.

If there is no embedded link in this address, you can copy and paste it into your browser and it will take you there.  I tried it just to be sure.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nA3LtXnNIto?feature=player_embedded