Seabirds in the City

By Words | Published May 15, 2009

Today's sequences were all taken a minute or so from Tower Bridge, in the heart of London. The weather was overcast, but dry.

There were several herring gulls in the vicinity, and this pair discovered a crab which became the subject of a minor tussle.

Herring Gulls discover a crab in the mud

Looking further out into the river, I watched a lone cormorant take to the air.

Cormorant taking off

The star turn though was undoubtedly a pair of lesser black-backed gulls. There are more of them (and of the herring gulls) in the May Birds album, but here's a short sequence.

lesser black-backed gullLesser Black-backed Gull

lesser black-backed gull

lesser black-backed gull

lesser black-backed gull
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Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This entry was posted in water birds and tagged , .

12 Comments

  1. gdare May 15, 2009 at 5:05 am #

    Nice shots. It looks like a day was cloudy and grey, not much sunlight :left:

  2. Ukwildlife May 15, 2009 at 7:05 am #

    Nice pics. I think the crab may be a mitten crab, as It doesnt quite look right for a shore crab

  3. Flying Red Fox Blog May 15, 2009 at 2:05 pm #

    Lovelly photos. 😀

  4. cakkleberrylane May 15, 2009 at 9:05 pm #

    Very nice the way you've caught the wings in the different positions.

  5. Words May 15, 2009 at 11:05 pm #

    Neil, thanks for identifying the crab, I'm sure that's right given where it was and having looked at a few photos.

  6. Words May 15, 2009 at 11:05 pm #

    Thanks Mark!

  7. Words May 15, 2009 at 11:05 pm #

    Thanks Lois! There's a few frames gap between the first and second shot, but shots 2-4 are an exact sequence.

  8. Words May 15, 2009 at 11:05 pm #

    Darko, no sunlight at all. And today we had rain 🙁

  9. annoushkiss May 16, 2009 at 6:05 am #

    In spite of a gloomy day you managed a great bird series :up:

  10. Words May 16, 2009 at 11:05 am #

    Thanks Anna!

  11. SittingFox May 17, 2009 at 8:05 am #

    Great sequence of the cormorant 🙂

  12. Words May 17, 2009 at 6:05 pm #

    Thanks Adele!