harbor seal — Birding — Bart Hoekstra

Today I made a walk along the beach in search of interesting and color-ringed gulls, but the beach was mostly empty. Four color-ringed birds were present on a total of ~200 birds (mostly Herring Gulls) along 6 kilometers of beach. A disappointingly small number of birds for this time of year, despite the relatively good number of ringed individuals. However, there was one visitor that I don't often see up close here: a nice Harbor Seal. And when there are seals on the beach, seal ‘rescuers’ are always close. This animal made the wise decision to go back in the water on their arrival. Luckily I had already made some photos beforehand.

An almost empty beach