On the recent trip to the Outer Banks, we didn’t have a lot of time and the weather was still a bit chilly from the cold snap only a day before, thus I didn’t get a lot of photos. However, there was one sequence on the beach (somewhere near Salvo) that deserves some attention, especially since the lens stayed locked on in focus throughout most of it despite the hectic nature. We were near a collection of seagulls and sanderlings, just hanging out, when a sudden commotion erupted and a flock of seagulls broke into song started wheeling around madly. We could see that the lead gull had something in its beak, we couldn’t possibly make out what with the frenetic action, but one particular follower was hell-bent on not letting the lead keep it. I just fired off frames as I tracked them.
These are laughing gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla) transitioning into winter plumage, and quite noisy when it comes to disputes. With close examination of the frames, I determined that the treasured possession was a partial slice of pizza, so give them credit for that at least. These are all cropped tighter since I had the 18-135 mounted and they weren’t that close, though one pass did bring them almost onto a collision course with us. They’ve also been brightened in post since I hadn’t set exposure compensation for the beach.
[Briefly: the auto-exposure function of the camera defaults to a middle range of brightness for an ‘average’ scene, but both the sky and the beach are brighter than average, so the camera typically darkens them down. Thus, we need to change it back to what it should be, and I always provide the simple adage, “If it’s bright, make it brighter,” e.g., overexpose from the default to correct for the camera’s assumptions. Except that I didn’t here. I’m failing my own lessons – how bad does that suck?]
This is only a guess, but I suspect the one in possession of the pizza was lower on the pecking order than its pursuer, and this was simply not allowed. The pursuit went on a surprisingly long time.
This should have been video, but I barely had any warning, and it all would have been farther away in the frame anyway.
They look very close here, but I can’t say that this is accurate; they may simply appear that way from lining up, or they might actually be that close. The action was too fast to tell.
This is only about half of the sharp frames that I got, as well. I just wanted to give an adequate impression.
They’ve all been in sequence except for the one above, which technically belongs in the fourth slot, but it’s my favorite so I saved it for almost last. You just have to appreciate that identical poses here, an aerial ballet. I take no credit for this: they were moving way too fast to plan or spot such a thing.
I close with a detail shot, which is not the gull leaving in triumph – we never saw the resolution, to be honest, but got distracted by another commotion from the rest of the gulls. Did this one get to eat in peace? Did it have to relinquish the pizza to the pursuer? Did they work out an equitable arrangement? We’re never going to know. What do you want, responsible journalism or something?