It started as just another laid-back afternoon at Splinter City Disc Golf Course in Myrtle Beach. But near Hole 11, nature decided to rewrite the rules. Players glanced upward and spotted an osprey soaring overhead with something heavy clutched in its talons.

Before anyone could make sense of it, two crows swooped in and pestered the raptor mid-flight. The osprey veered toward a tree, lost its grip, and dropped a small hammerhead shark into the woods below. The players stopped, stunned. The shark, clearly dead, hit the ground without ceremony—an unexpected ending to a midair scuffle Garden & Gun reports.

A hammerhead shark fell from the sky onto a disc golf course in Myrtle Beach.

The Predator That Didn’t Get Away

Though tornadoes have been known to lift sea life and dump them inland, this was no freak weather event. This was a hungry osprey interrupted mid-meal. Ospreys, or *Pandion haliaetus*, are skilled fishers with talons designed for grip, often spotted diving for prey near coastal piers. This one likely snagged the shark near Springmaid Pier, less than a mile from the golf course, and was flying inland when it met resistance from territorial crows, Live Science confirms.

What the bird had caught wasn’t a typical fish, though. It was a small hammerhead, possibly a bonnethead—a species related to the better-known hammerhead family, but rarely seen in a raptor’s claws. As the Daily Mail reports, ospreys typically go for prey under 12 inches, but this particular shark looked closer to 24 inches long, making it a surprising choice—and an even more surprising sight when it plummeted from above.

Ospreys typically hunt fish under 12 inches, making the shark an unusual choice.

Mobbing Season Mayhem

The aerial ambush wasn’t random. Crows are known to mob larger birds during nesting season, joining forces to chase off predators that threaten their young or food sources. This defensive behavior can drive hawks, eagles, and ospreys to abandon their catches or divert course, LADbible notes. In this case, it disrupted a seaside hunt and sent a marine predator crashing into the middle of a disc golf game.

Players left the shark where it landed, guessing the osprey might return. It didn’t. Later, another group found the fish and, without context, stood baffled. A photo posted to social media cleared up the mystery—and saved others from trying to explain a hammerhead inexplicably lying in the woods, News-Pravda reports.

Local Wildlife, Unusual Twist

Encounters with nature aren’t rare on this coastal course. Players often spot raccoons, snakes, even alligators. But a shark? That was new. The Myrtle Beach Disc Golf Facebook page has fielded its share of strange sightings, but nothing quite like this. A predator of the deep, delivered by air, into a piney patch of Carolina forest.

No one was hurt. The shark was already dead. The osprey went hungry. And the disc golfers left with a story so strange it sounds made up—until you see the photos.