The wind is against us. We have to paddle a little harder to get past it.
She flies off, as we come closer.
Now she circles above us. She calls excitedly and flies closer and closer to us.
It seems to me that she is telling us to go away. "Leave me alone," she calls, or so, in any event do I interpret her screeching.
Andy sits in the bow of our Kevlar Canoe. His paddle rests squarely in front of him.
"Let's explore this island a little." he says.
We paddle to the other side where we can beach the canoe.
I grab one of my cameras, the one with the medium zoom lens. Lucky for me.
"There is a nest with two Seagull eggs" Andy says.
I take a quick picture. We don't want to stay too close, so as not to panic the mother bird.
And then I see them: Two Seagull chicks, pressing themselves into a narrow split in the rock.
Completely motionless. Only the blades of grass near their head move gently in the wind.
The mother bird still screeches warnings to her offspring.
There is another gray-flecked chick down a crevasse. Motionless.
A few quick photographs.
Then Andy and I beat a hasty retreat.
We do not want to disturb this idyllic family picture any more than we already have.
The green-speckled eggs.
The eggs of a Seagull.
These two chicks are so motionless,
they don't even blink, nor do they bat an eyelash.
Here is the big question:
Do the Adults know that the coloration of their chicks
will match their rock-surroundings so closely
that they will be almost invisible?
Did this pair build the nest there,
because they understand the notion of Camouflage?
"Nature sure is a Beaut"
Aint She?
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