It is 6 AM and I am wide awake. Try as I might I can't seem to get back to sleep. I give up and decide that I might as well get up and make a cup of coffee and have my devotions on the lanai as the sun comes up. Since we face west, I will not actually see the sun peek over the horizon but I know from past mornings that the sky will turn beautiful shades of pink, lavender and salmon before the sunshine finally fills the sky. This morning there are several puffy white clouds as well which remind me of pink cotton candy as they reflect the morning sun.
As beautiful as that scene is, it is only enhanced by the arrival of an osprey who is hunting for his best fishing spot to catch his breakfast. He has to share it with a white heron or crane who is delicately wading through the waters on shore on his long spindly legs, pausing now and then to wait for a passing fish.
The osprey perches on a springy palm branch on the tree in front of our condo. He sits quietly and watches for an easy catch. Not satisfied, after a few minutes he flies to a palm tree to the right of me almost out of sight. I can see him if I lean forward. He sits patiently. Waiting. Waiting.
Suddenly he swoops down to a spot in shallow water right in front of me and struggles in the water. I imagine claws wrapped around a nice juicy mullet in the water. The osprey flaps his wings and flounders in the water. They are not birds that land in the water and float as the pelicans, terns and cormorants do. Water sprays up in the struggle and finally the osprey takes off.
I look expectantly to his claws but they are empty. Poor guy. The fish won this round. I know the feeling. Too often I am actually feeding fish rather than catching fish.
The osprey flies off, I assume, to another spot or to dry his wings or both. He certainly can't go back to the nest empty handed. I can only imagine the squawk of mate and offspring. Luckily no one depends upon me to put fish on the table.
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