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This is No. 5 of a series of 5 pictures of gulls riding the winds of a violent Pacific storm which struck the coast of Vancouver Island,British Columbia,Canada on April 2, 2010.
Gulls always seem to stay close to land when winds reach a certain speed, and they head into the wind, floating fairly close to the ground, often hovering in a stationary position.
Fuji S100FS, 1/550 sec., F 5.0, ISO 100, 400mm.
Comments
Very interesting series – it’s fascinating seeing how much their postures and expressions vary up close, when they appear just to be flying about to the naked eye (or hovering in this case).
When there’s a very high wind and stormy seas they cluster on the nearest point or crest of land, often hunching down on the ground as if they were nesting eggs. Or they fly fairly low and always into the wind, hardly moving their wings except to go up or down. I’ve watched them for many years on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the pattern seldom changes.
What a great series, George. They really show that typical gull behaviour in inclement weather. Very nicely done!
Hi Mike, many thanks! We went off into the boonies for a couple of days, sorry I’m late getting back to you. Glad you liked the series, I love watching them in a storm but this was the first time I tried to get some good pics of them.
– George Cousins
Great shot of the gulls..I’m always looking for images like this if I’m doing a beach painting or drawing…Just wondered if you had any relitives in England..My mothers maiden name was Cousins..She came to Canada as a war bride…Were in Ontario. : )
Hi Margaret, glad you liked the image.. No relatives in England, I’ve traced us back 3 generations through Nova Scotia and Newfoundland but that’s as far as I got so I guess we started out as fishermen back in the dim past..lol!