Painted gull

A Featured Photo from August 2017; click on it to enlarge:

 

This picture was taken in Miami and shows an immature laughing gull. It’s a common bird in Florida but this one is rather bedraggled. Nonetheless, there is a certain beauty in his ruffled and storm-blown feathers: they look almost like the brush-strokes of an artist.

I was keen to try and capture him on camera, so I sat down quietly nearby and watched him while he busily preened. He had just fluffed up his damaged feathers at this point. The brown sandy backdrop helpfully complements the gull’s colours.