A recent outing at the Sprinter City Disc Golf Course in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, took an unexpected turn when a group of friends, led by Jonathan Marlowe, witnessed an osprey dropping a small hammerhead shark. The incident occurred while they were playing at hole 11, leaving Marlowe and his companions in disbelief.
While disc golfing, the group observed an osprey in the sky, carrying something large in its talons. “I was just there to play disc golf,” Marlowe recounted, still processing the extraordinary sight. Initially, the friends struggled to identify what the bird was carrying, with Marlowe noting, “It’s not unusual to see an osprey carrying something, but it’s still really cool to see it.”
As they watched, two crows appeared and began to chase the osprey, leading to a brief aerial tussle that ended when the bird lost its prize. To their astonishment, what fell to the ground was a dead hammerhead shark, an unusual find well away from any body of water.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, ospreys are adept hunters, capable of diving from heights of up to 30 meters (about 100 feet) at speeds reaching 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour). They utilize their specially adapted talons to catch slippery fish, making a hammerhead shark an uncommon but not impossible catch. The behavior of the crows, which often flock with larger birds for safety, is typical, particularly in spring when they are away from nesting sites.
Despite encountering wildlife frequently on golf courses, Marlowe acknowledged that finding a hammerhead shark in the woods was truly extraordinary. “We couldn’t believe it and kept asking ourselves, ‘Did that really just happen?’” he said, speculating that the osprey was likely hunting around the nearby Springmaid Pier.
Before leaving, Marlowe and his friends opted to leave the hammerhead shark under the tree where it had fallen. They hoped that the osprey might return for its catch. Later, Marlowe shared photos of the incident on his Facebook profile, leading to further unexpected connections within the golfing community. Another player commented that they had discovered the same shark under a tree, expressing their confusion before seeing Marlowe’s post. “They were standing there in shock with no frame of reference for what might have happened,” Marlowe explained. “But then they saw the post and said, ‘Thank God, because how do you explain a hammerhead randomly in the forest?’”
This unusual event not only provided a remarkable story for Marlowe and his friends but also sparked conversation among local golfers about the unexpected encounters that can arise in natural settings.