HUNTERSVILLE – A year ago, a group of Piedmont Natural Gas interns helped clear land and started to build an osprey enclosure as part of a new exhibit at the Carolina Raptor Center, 6000 Sample Road.

The center needed a home for a young osprey, whose right wing was severely injured by a gunshot and surgically repaired at The Wildlife Center in Espanola, N.M.

In return for its work and financial support, Piedmont earned the right to name the osprey, the first that the center has displayed in more than 20 years.

“We want the community to help us name this very special osprey and hope everyone will log onto our Facebook page … ,” said Ken Valentine, a Piedmont Natural Gas vice president and member of the Carolina Raptor Center board. “Those who vote will have the opportunity to win free passes to the raptor center.”

The website is www.facebook.com/PiedmontNG.

Osprey are also called seahawks, and six names under consideration are: Altair, which means “the flyer;” Hemingway, after the author of “The Old Man and the Sea;” Kosumi, which means “spear fisher;” Monte, short for Piedmont and means “mountain;” Skye; and Swoop.

Voting began Friday, Aug. 12, and ends at midnight Sunday, Aug. 21. Officials will announce the winning name Aug. 27 at 4:30 p.m. at the dedication of the Osprey Observation Deck. The exhibit will open to the public Aug. 28, and the new osprey will make a public debut in September.