I saw this bird as my wife and I were walking on a beach in Carmel, CA. The bird didn't seem frightened of me and I edged as close as I could without scaring it off.
I thought about positioning the bird more to the right of the photo but decided to leave less place in front of it. I already had a couple of pictures with more space in front of the bird. It was about noon and the sun was bright. So I knew I couldn't hope for many saturated colors..