A Few Gulls

[SCraig]

I went on my standard weekend waste-of-effort quest after a Black-Capped Night Heron (see below) and as usual came away with some shots of the gulls.

I'm aware that the highlights on the back of the second one are blown out. It was completely overcast but the sun would occasionally find a thin layer of clouds and cause some bright spots. I was shooting in manual and that was apparently shot during one of the bright spots.

Regarding that little rat-b@$#%&* Night Heron, it's like he can read my mind and KNOWS if I have my long lens with me or not. He lives on an island in the middle of the lake at Centennial Park. I first saw it a couple of years ago and stretched my 300mm lens to its limits to get even a halfway decent shot. He never leaves the island, and I can't get onto it. I've been back probably a couple of dozen times since then and if I have my 500mm lens and tripod he is nowhere to be seen. If I leave them at home he is standing at the edge of the water on his island just laughing at me. Regular as clockwork it never fails.

 

[jackiex_x]

i LOVE #3

 

[Bossy]

I love 1 and 2, I think 3 is your least strong because you can't see those awesome yellow eyes.

 

[SCraig]

I love 1 and 2, I think 3 is your least strong because you can't see those awesome yellow eyes.

Happy now? :mrgreen:

That particular gull is a little different from most of the others. Notice that while all the others are nearly pure white this one is heavily spotted. I looked real close at the NEF file and this one's eyes are quite dark too. It could have been the exposure or it could be that this one just naturally has dark eyes. What sun there was, although it was heavily overcast, was on the side I shot.

 

[Bossy]

hahaha YES <3

 

[SCraig]

i LOVE #3

Thank you. He had just gobbled down half a slice of bread that someone threw into the water. There were a couple of dozen of them competing with the geese and ducks for pieces of bread, and this one had just snagged a piece and was pretty happy about it