Check out the visitor to our pond today! I know these are commonplace to some people, but here in Upstate SC they are a rare sight. Our pond is pretty large, 4 acres. We've recently had some very cold weather, and this has apparently killed off the population of gizzard shad that we didn't even know we had in the pond (they are sensitive to the extreme cold, they are normally found in larger bodies of water such as lakes, but somebody must have introduced them into the pond before we purchased the land). As a result, they've been washing up onto the banks by the dozens, and this has prompted lots of scavenger activity, which must have attracted this fellow. Very neat to see! So much bigger than the hawks and vultures I'm used to seeing around here.