On a recent trip to the upper Clearwater drainage I caught a glimpse of something struggling in the river through the tree's. I stopped the car and noticed an Osprey looking as though he was drowning. I watched with amazement as he floated downstream about 200' then lifted from the water and returned to the head of the run (riffle). Here he plunged in and rode down 200' or so again...what the heck? So, curiosity caught me and I walked over to the edge of the river to try and see what was going on. That's when I saw the spawning Chinook salmon. This Osprey was literally clamping on and trying to lift 30-40 pound Chinook (or King)! Obviously this was not going to happen as the fish were easily 3-4 times the weight of the bird. He/she thought it was going to happen though and I began to chuckle.....after about 10 minutes of this I had seen enough and began a walk to the car when I turned back for another glance and saw the Osprey take flight...........with a Chinook! I let something that I can't repeat come out of my mouth and the Osprey looked right at me as he flew away with a smaller (still 20+ pound salmon) and I swear he chirped as if to say "how do you like me now?". Unbelievable!

Bryan
Shoreline, Wa.
jennandbryan at msn.com