We have a slowly expanding network of trails on our 6 acres. The undergrowth is so dense in many areas that the trails are necessary to be able to access all areas of the property. One such trail predated our arrival here, and is almost a road – it was made with some sort of machinery that was barged in but no longer is on the property. It was easy for me to clear the undergrowth off of it that had sprung up in the intervening years to make a wide, graded trail that moves through a couple of hundred yards of the property.

One day in the summer of 2023 I was hiking along this main trail, and came upon a surreal sight – smack in the middle of the trail was a fish! Mind you that it was at least 200 feet from the lake. Maybe about 12 inches long, the fish looked as if it had been there for a while and was still damp, but with our humidity levels and in the shade things take a long time to dry out. The poor creature was covered with bits of leaves and detritus. Upon closer inspection, I could see it was a bullhead catfish, and I leaned in even closer to prod it with a stick – and then promptly jumped a mile in the air as the thing squirmed. It was still very much alive.

Most catfish and bullheads can live a long time out of water before suffocating. Apparently they have another organ that functions somewhat as a lung, allowing them to extract some oxygen from the air. While they may look like they are gasping for air, they’re actually activating a mechanism that closes off their gills and opens their air-breathing chamber. This is not an optimal arrangement for them and they can’t survive too long in this manner.

Two thoughts went through my head at this point: 1) protein for a our chicken flock, and 2) release the fish back into the lake and see if it lives. Given the rough day it had already had, I opted for 2) and picked it up. Upon carrying it with haste down to the lakeshore, I put the bullhead in the shallows. For the next half hour, it just lay there rapidly moving water in and out of its gills but not doing much else. Inevitably I became distracted by another task, and upon returning 40 minutes later, my slimy friend was gone. Hopefully it had moved to deeper water and had not become a meal for a predator.

I was gratified by this extraordinary experience. My only regret is not getting any pictures, but at the time I was worried for the fish’s welfare.

How could such a thing happen? It must have dropped from a raptor’s talons somehow, and by chance fell right on the path. Birds of prey don’t easily let go of things they have locked in their talons, so we were thinking it was a case of one such bird trying to steal another’s prey. From the size of the fish, whatever got it off the ground would have had to be fairly large.

The moral of the story is that when you hear something above you – look up! Whether it’s a falling fish or a large branch that breaks off (which happens often in our woods), be prepared to dodge.