Kentucky Photographer’s Sea Gull Pic Reveals an Unexpected Surprise

Chris Conley is an avid photographer and has captured much from outside his Owensboro, KY home, which sits right along the Ohio River. Chris has become an expert photographing pretty much anything that flies.

He has taken some majestic photos of bald eagles near his home. Here's a really good pic he snagged a couple of weeks ago.

He's also really good at capturing man-made birds in all their glory too. Chris makes his rounds at air shows around the country and has photographed some of the world's most famous aerobatic teams. Check out this photo of a Blue Angel from the 2021 Owensboro Air Show!

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While Chris has certainly achieved "pro" status with his photos, there's a first time for everything. That was certainly the case this week when Chris started photographing a sea gull flying along the river. Now, it's not out of the ordinary to see gulls here in Kentucky and it's certainly not out of the ordinary for Chris to see them flying along the Ohio looking for food.

It wasn't until Chris started reviewing the photos of this particular gull that he noticed something very different about it. While it looked like the bird was carrying a small fish in its bill, it wasn't. Look!

Chris says, "When I zoomed in on the photo, I was like holy #@$%! That's a crank bait."

And that bait is firmly lodged in the gull's bill.

How it got there is a certainly a mystery, but Chris has a pretty workable theory. He says, "It could have been a guy cast it out there and the sea gull picked it up as soon as it hit the water." That would be impeccable, but regrettable timing.

Chris shared the surprise find on Facebook. He wrote, "We see just about everything here at the house along the Ohio River, but today was a first. A sea gull with a crank bait stuck in its face wasn't on my Bingo card. Poor feller...."