Bramlings are Assholes, Surfers are cool

Again we went back to the neighborhood where the Brambling has been visiting feeders. We decided what the hell since we were close and had a few other places in the area to check out anyway. So we arrived at sunrise. The area is a cul de sac next to a church that the yard backs up to. Of course it was Sunday. We watched the area for about an hour while everyone arrived for services and then decided to get the hell out of there and continued to check the front yard. The backyard where the feeders apparently are cannot be seen but the birds pop up into the trees and sit around a lot. So they say....  We were joined by a group of guys from San Diego, a few people we had seen the other day and a couple others. We scoured the neighbors yards and walked around like we were lost using our binoculars to look high and low. I feel a little bad for the people who live on this street. All of these people walking around for the last two weeks had to be a little unnerving for them.   After a few hours we decided to give up, to hell with this bird, I had wasted enough time on it. 

Next we headed over to the north jetty on Humboldt bay. We arrived just as the tide was beginning to go out and walked along the beach towards the jetty. On our way out we run into a guy who is drinking a beer and just hanging out. He started up a conversation and learned that his name was Chris and that he was a surfer who's family had moved from the Cincinnati area when we was a kid.

He was waiting for others to show up before hitting the water for the day because the day before the "man in the white" had cleared the line at the end of the day. I had to ask him exactly what that meant. It turns out a great white shark had been seen in the area while the guys were surfing the afternoon before and he did not want to be the only person in the water today. He told us a bunch of stories and other places to go look for birds. He said that while he is out there sitting on his board waiting on a wave, Western grebes will swim right up to him and check him out. Close enough to touch. He assured us that it was safe to walk out but to not "turn our backs" on the ocean. We parted ways and headed to the end of the jetty. 

As the tide ebbed, more and more rocks were exposed and birds began to materialize. Black-legged kittiwakes and brown pelicans cruised by, Ancient murrelets and Common murres sheared the waves while booking past us and  Black turnstones, rock sandpipers and surfbirds picked at the newly exposed world below the waterline. Common, Pacific and Red-throated loons, Eared, horned, western and red-necked grebes, Brant's and Pelagic cormorants and all three scoters wave peaking all around as the waves pounded the shore.

That was when we saw Chris on his board waiting on the next curl. We spent the next 20 minutes watching him and his compatriots surf and enjoyed the sunny weather on the jetty. 

Because I am a glutton for punishment I decided to take us back to look for the brambling one last time. We spent about a half hour with Zero results and decided to call it a day. F. U. Brambling. 

I could seawatch all day long here.