Every once in a while, someone’s video of an animal in the wild stops me in my tracks. Mark Smith recently posted footage of an osprey hunting a fish, and it’s really beautiful. The bird starts with an expert plunge into the water. After surfacing, it shakes its head like a wet dog and pauses before mustering its energy and taking flight once again.
Videos by Outdoors
Smith is a wildlife photographer who specializes in capturing these incredible moments with birds like ospreys, eagles, herons, and more. In his video caption, Smith shares the excitement he feels when he sees an osprey go all in on a hunt, like this one did.
[RELATED: WATCH: Massive Orca Explodes From the Sea While Hunting]
“When an osprey crashes into the water at full speed, you never really know what’s going to happen,” he wrote in his Instagram post. “They might surface with empty talons. They might snag a minnow. Or . . . they might be locked in the struggle of their life, wrestling a fish that absolutely refuses to leave its watery world.”
Smith also notes the surreal moment when the bird made eye contact with his camera. He adds: “This bird just gave us its best, ‘Blue Steel,’ and now it’s ready to take to the skies with a healthy, plump pompano. Simply amazing [that birds] seem to outdo themselves time and time again.”
Watch the mesmerizing footage of an osprey catching a fish here:
Header stock image by kristianbell/Getty Images
