There’s so much I/we don’t know. Yesterday, we were walking with the dogs along the Monterey Coast at Asilomar when we spotted a bird nesting in the sand. We had passed some beach areas that were roped off to provide privacy for nesting birds. Actually, from a distance I thought it might be a bird in a large egg shell. Its eyes appeared closed. Maybe it was sick, or about to give birth? We’d never seen a bird like this–didn’t look real.
We left it alone, only to return 40 minutes later to see it standing up! Since we were close to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and its exhibit of penguins, the obvious conclusion is that a penguin had escaped. Called the aquarium only to be told the bird was most likely a Common Murre that resembles a penguin. Why was it alone with eyes that kept closing while standing? We wished it well.
(Took these shots with a telephoto lens. Our dogs were kept a good distance from the bird.)
It certainly does resemble a penguin. I would have made the same error. Fun story
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