Endless Searching

discerning a fascinating species

MichaelStephenWills

Gulls, an omnipresent element of any beach stroll. Pestiferous, abounding and incessant the gull is simple to deal with. Keep any and all foodstuffs under wraps.

Click for “Florida” in my Fine Art Galleries.

For those who adore a crowd of gulls

Conversely, for those who adore a crowd of raucous opportunists simply pull out the food and offer it to the air. There is more about this photograph at this post, “Lady Feeding Gulls, Cocoa Beach Dawn.”

Click any photograph for a larger view.

Beach Walking

Pam and I developed a habit of hanging out in Florida during Finger Lakes Winters when the gorges are closed for safety and even walking the streets is perilous, stray black ice encounters abound. We trade icy falls for beach walks.

It is natural to become inured to the flight of gulls along the shore. For all my carting along the Sony Alpha 700 with a variable lens ( 18 – 200 mm) there is not a single photograph of a gull in flight. Yet, I have my eye on them until my blindness was lifted by a peculiar individual. It seemed to be a white gull, yet it had a watchful eye.

Gliding shoreline parallel with head down, how could I have mistaken it for a gull?

Osprey occupy an environmental niche along 700,000+ shoreline miles worldwide as a single species Pandion haliaetus. A unique bird with its own family, Pandionidae, and genus, Pandion, some experts recognize sub-species in geographic regions. Ours is the Western Osprey.

The following photograph is of a wing shape very different from the gull.

Osprey Stalking Behavior

IPhone 8 always in my pocket, I captured this clip of an Osprey stalking fish in the Atlantic Ocean surf. You will have a better viewing experience by clicking on the title of the embedded YouTube, then click on the Full Screen icon at the lower right.

Copyright 2021, Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

22 thoughts on “Endless Searching”

  1. Great post, Michael! 😀 I have a love/hate relationship with gulls … their evocative cry reminding me of happy holidays as young at my grandparents, out on the sea for island picnics. Yet, they are relentless when food is nearby and I almost fear them and their beaks! I enjoyed your beautiful video of the osprey! My spirits soared!

    Liked by 2 people

      1. It seemed very steady to me. I recently took a video of the butterflies on a bush in the garden and I was desperately panning back and forth to catch sight of them. I haven’t quite decided whether to share this attempt yet!😀

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I never suspected that about gulls, they are so driven at the prospect of food and, besides, scavenge garbage dumps. On second though, so do people!! We have crows around here, enjoy their many sounds and wisdom.

      Like

  4. The colouring of ospreys is also distinctive. I was lucky enough once to see several of these birds circling over the place where I worked. Some of us were having a coffee break outside and saw them. Early 2000’s that was. Your video reminded me of that incident.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Pingback: Fishing Creatures – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

  6. Michael, your reminder of seagulls’ watchful eye for food scraps is so true. I enjoyed your “keep any and all foodstuffs under wraps” comment. I was up at Lake Erie a couple of weeks ago and witnessed these scavengers all over a McDonalds parking lot near the marina.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Pingback: Shoulder to Shoulder – Michael Stephen Wills Photography
  8. Pingback: Nesting – Michael Stephen Wills Photography
  9. Pingback: Osprey Pictorial – Michael Stephen Wills Photography
  10. Pingback: Dive!! – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Comments are closed.