Ol’ Yellow-Eye.

Gull on granite, North Hampton Beach.

My walk started here yesterday, at a surprisingly high tide, with an offshore-stormy surf but otherwise pleasant conditions.

This gull did not feel like flying away when I approached and knelt to take his picture. He could not be bothered. I believe he is an American Herring Gull, Larus smithsonianus.

The Herring Gull is the quintessential basic “seagull,” with no distinctive characters that immediately set it apart from other gull species. The characteristic gull of the North Atlantic, it can be found across much of North America.

Looks like he is entering his third winter, with “extensive dusky streaking on an otherwise white head and neck” and “eyes yellow or buff.” In the second winter, herring gull eyes are “pale straw or brown.” Gray legs shade to pink and get pinker as a herring gull gets older.