A Fishy Sunday Brunch

Friends,

We have safely returned from our coastal sortie, which the authorities have declared, "A fair success". This is a reasonable analysis, presumably because I am the Authority, and I have declared it as such.

The highlight of our last day was a feeding "frenzy" -- thousands of birds gathered on Santa Cruz bay, methodically decimating an unseen school of fish:

Unfortunately, the birds refused to respond to my calls to move closer together, so you only get a small part of the flock.

Technically, it was more of a "mellow frenzy", in that the birds were constantly feedly but not going berzerk. I attribute this to the not insignificant quantities of pot smoke wafting through the city that morning. Seriously, Santa Cruz, we need to blaze at 8AM on a Sunday?

Birds were diving under the water to catch fish, and then coming to the surface to enjoy their snack. However, some bird's eyes were a little bigger than their bellies, like this Horned Grebe...

Dude, are you really going to eat that? It's as big as your head.

I see you're going to try...

Fail! We watched him play with this fish, but never saw him successfully swallow it. Pick a smaller fish next time!

The most vigorous action of the day was turned in by the Pelican division.

Gliding, cool as the other side of the pillow

We watched their precision maneuvering, as they drifted over the bay watching for the right moment, and then diving headlong into the ocean:

This was best described by the gentleman next to me on the pier: "Wow! Look at them dive! Splash! And another one! Splash! Whoa! There goes that one! Boom!"

Well said, my friend, well said.

Go Seattle Ospreys!
Me