A Gull's View of Seals

An airborne gull looks opportunistically at seals diving for fish in the waters around Halibut Point. 


Harbor seal

On shore seals appear lumpy, unsuited to the submarine chase.

Immersion transforms them for sleek sprints in the business of fishing.

In their foreparts seals are well endowed for the underwater hunt. All their sensors have been realigned proportionally, positionally, purposefully for success.

Seals face an awkward moment when they capture a fish too big to swallow whole.

A canny gull will jab not just at the fish but at the seal's head and eyes to get it to relinquish the meal.

An interwoven chain of predation is under way. Each link pursues its survival in the constant adaptations to available energy and intelligence that at any moment portray the biosphere.

Biologists apply the term 'kleptoparasitism' (stealing + freeloader) to the gull's behavior toward the victimized seal. But unlike the fish the seal gets another chance. And parasitism unfairly suggests a creepy, invasive siphoning of assimilated life juices. 


Seal pup and gull

No, the gull has no part in considerations of what might have been. It consumes with a level gaze on the twists and turns of an organic parade. 


Seal pup with herd

The seals meanwhile concentrate on the welfare and occupations of their own province.