High over the sea this bird stood watch over tourists and seals as if he owned the landscape.
I felt no photo layout would be complete without this shot. I took several pictures of this bird, which was less than 20 feet away from me. As we walked along the path he watched the people with curiosity. He seemed to just be taking in the view and perhaps enjoying the warm October afternoon sun. Perhaps he was looking across the bay thinking about where his next meal would come from.
The sun washed out the ocean in this view and I wasn’t sure when I took the shot that I would be able to get a good silhouette of the bird, but the photo turned out better than I hoped for. He was actually looking at me with his right eye. Maybe he was curious about what I was doing. Maybe he has posed for pictures before and has become accustomed to being a model for camera-happy tourists. There were several dogs running along the path. The bird was larger than most of them and they paid it no heed. He didn’t seem to care much about them either.