Back to the beach

We headed down to New Brighton Beach between Santa Cruz and Aptos. California is quite nice when it isn't raining, don't you think?

Whenever nature gets into trouble at the beach it seems to find us and ask for help. Whether it is shark chomped seals or dying dolphins we always seem to be in the right place at the right time to help. Today was no exception.

The water was exceptionally calm and we sat watching several cormorants diving and resurfacing close in-shore. A fisherman decided to try his luck beside us, presumably thinking if there were birds fishing there would presumably be fish for him to catch too.
I started heading off for a walk, but as I looked back I noticed that the fisherman had hooked not a fish but a cormorant. Dena rushed over and offered to help the fisherman release it. The fisherman wasn't all that pleased at being helped, and we think upon reflection that if we hadn't stepped in he may well have not done much to aid the bird save cutting his line. Dena held the rod, I held the bird and the fisherman tried to remove the two barbs of his three barbed hook from the birds webbed foot.

The fisherman really looked the part, replete with the obligatory green fishing waistcoat/vest with multiple pockets for all sorts of fishing gadgetry. However, it turned out that he didn't have a gadget for removing hooks from cormorants feet. In fact he didn't have any gadgets at all, apart from a pair of nail clippers which I think he was sorely tempted to use to cut the line and leave the hook in the birds foot. Luckily he got the idea that I wasn't having any that and after quite a struggle, during which the poor bird remained quite calm (I think knowing we were trying to help it), we got the hook out and the bird flew off shaken but not stirred.

Although it couldn't say thank you, I think the bird was grateful, and although he could have said thank you, I am pretty sure the fisherman wasn't grateful at all.