(see the full-size close-up below)

The subject of this 35mm color transparency is a seagull standing atop a piling backed by a colorful fishing boat at California’s Monterey Wharf. What intrigued me about this fellow was his fearlessness as I observed him from a few feet away on the wharf. He seemed to be having a hard time keeping his eyes open. Also, he seemed to possess only one leg. Since none other was visible I assumed he was an amputee.

I framed him in my lens with the boat in the background more out of curiosity than anything else. Was I about to see a sleepy one-legged seagull finally doze off and fall from his perch?   If so, I wanted to be there to photograph that obviously bizarre phenomenon.

I wondered, 1. Would my one-legged sleepy friend actually tumble overboard into the water in his sleep? Or, 2. Would he get so tired of supporting himself on that one leg that he would simply settle down and doze where he sat?

The answer to my scientific question soon came when my semi-dozing bird did what he probably had done for hundreds of similarly curious bystanders on that wharf. He  astonished me by un-cocking his second leg that had been hiding in his plumage and stood on that one while he folded and rested the one he had been standing on. Made sense to me.

I snapped his photograph anyway, despite the fact that he wasn’t a pitiful one-legged seagull after all, just a weary one dozing in the warm late afternoon sun.

This detailed colorful rendition when viewed in its maximum enlargement is stunning. The small close-up sample only hints at its detailed intensity. The unusual texture of colors, detailed shifts of hues, and overall beauty of this scene in its high quality poster-sized print is truly remarkable, making it one of my favorites.

This is a close-up image from the full-size print, showing the detail involved