The osprey soared low over the lake, then suddenly splashed down into the water. Then, its large wings flapping, it rose quickly into the air with a large fish clutched in its talons. It flew across the lake toward the shore to consume its morsel.

A group of us birdwatchers, standing on the lake's dam at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Monticello in Jasper County last weekend, watched this magnificent scene unfold in front of us. As the osprey (often confused for a bald eagle) sped across the lake with its catch, we cheered in admiration.

Matthew S. Gunby / AP (ENLARGE)

Ospreys are superb hunters. Birders in Jasper County enjoyed watching an osprey execute a successful fishing maneuver.

MORE WILD GEORGIA: Mushrooms fill a variety of vital roles  Native grass gets intervention at Panola Mountain  Cool weather brings first of season's birds  Jekyll Island is a haven for songbirds  Coast is paradise for birdwatchers

The osprey's fishing skills were only part of a great day of birding last weekend at Charlie Elliott, a 6,500-acre state preserve less than an hour's drive east of Atlanta.

The preserve encompasses a variety of habitats — rock outcrop, old fields, mixed pine and hardwood forests, pine woods, bottomland hardwood forest and more than 300 acres of ponds and lakes. Beaver swamps are found throughout the site. Such a diversity means that a wide array of wildlife, especially birds, can be observed.

Led by Department of Natural Resources biologist Tim Keyes last weekend, we saw or heard at least 65 bird species — including the osprey — during three hours of birding on a glorious spring day at Charlie Elliott.

Field notes

Here are excerpts from my notes of the birding day:

Before we even get out of the visitors center parking lot, we catch glimpses of a brilliant red summer tanager flitting among the trees just leafing out ... can also hear a red-bellied woodpecker ... we form a carpool to follow Tim to various birding spots in the preserve ... from his truck, Tim spots a blue grosbeak in full breeding plumage singing his heart out at the top of a small oak ... we pull off the road for a better look through binoculars and scopes ... the grosbeak, Tim explains, is a neo-tropical migrant returning to Georgia for the summer nesting season. "A lot of birds are returning now," he notes.

While we're stopped, other birds appear or greet us with tweets and songs — chipping sparrow, eastern phoebe (whose call sounds like its name), goldfinches, eastern bluebirds, cardinal, American crow, titmice, Carolina chickadees, Carolina wrens, blue-gray gnatcatcher, gray catbird, white-eyed vireo, eastern towhee ... their hearty singing and colorful breeding plumage indicate that raging "hormones are running their lives right now" as they try to attract mates and defend territories, Tim says. ...

Small flocks of northbound blue jays fly overhead ... while most of Georgia's blue jays are year-round residents, they're joined in the winter by many jays from up north ... the northern birds are now heading back to summer breeding grounds, Tim says. ...

Near Charlie Elliott's Discovery Center, we spy eastern king birds perched on a power line ... a brown thrasher (Georgia's official state bird) sings loudly from a tree ... from another tree, we see an equally vocal orchard oriole in brilliant black and dark orange plumage ... a mockingbird tries to imitate the birds' singing ... a flock of handsome cedar waxwings make a beautiful picture as they feed among the yellow flowers of a tall tulip poplar ... yellow-rumped warblers, which will be heading for their northern breeding grounds soon, seem to be all around us ... a squeaky brown-headed nuthatch creeps head-first down a pine tree in search of insects ... from the dense foliage along the lake come the notes of a Louisiana water thrush, a species of warbler. ...

On the lake we see beautiful wood ducks and a mallard landing in the water ... a great blue heron stands rigidly by the water's edge ... Canada geese and a lone cormorant swim in the water ... a belted kingfisher perches in a tree by a dock ... from across the lake, we hear a northern flicker and a sharp-shinned hawk calling ... black and turkey vultures soar overhead ... but the biggest show at the lake is the osprey snatching a fish. ...

At the edge of a pine forest, we catch glimpses of a brightly colored prairie warbler, which is also an arriving neotropical migrant ... from the woods we hear yellow-breasted chats, another migratory warbler species ... we also hear palm warblers and meadowlarks in the distance. ...

Our last stop is at an old field covered by broom sedge — prime sparrow habitat. Charlie Elliott preserve, in fact, is famous for its "sparrow fields." Not surprisingly, we spy field sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, grasshopper sparrows and Savannah sparrows ... as an apparent bonus, we see a brilliant indigo bunting in a tree, a green heron at the top of another tree and a northern harrier soaring low over the field. We all agree with Tim's assessment of our birding venture: "A great time to be outside in Georgia."

For more information and directions to Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, visit georgiatrails.com/trails/charlie_elliot.html .

In the sky

The moon will be last quarter on Monday night, says Fernbank Science Center astronomer David Dundee. Venus is very low in the west just after sunset. Mars is in the southwest just after dark. Jupiter rises out of the east about an hour after midnight. Saturn is high in the south as the sky darkens.