Mediterranean Monk Seal and a Little Gull, Paphos Headland

This morning I was at Paphos Headland at dawn and as usual there were many great birds to be seen.  The golden plover flock had increased to 58 birds and a single grey plover was with them. Always keeping a slight distance were at least four greater sandplovers, the most that I have ever seen here, and there were the usual red-throated pipits.

Best of all though, I spotted a 1st winter little gull hawking over the sea. I'd never seen little gull in Cyprus before and knew that it was at best a scarce passage migrant and in winter was even less common. I took a few photos and then decided to get some video. On returning to our apartment I forgot about the video and concentrated on having a none-birding day out. 

Later in the evening I was editing the video and suddenly spotted what looked like a seal in the video. I posted the video and made a few enquiries and it turns out that it's a Mediterranean monk seal. This is the only seal found in the Mediterranean and is the rarest seal in the world, with an estimated 700 individuals world wide and only 20-22 individuals in Cyprus! In 1984 it was classified as one of the 12 most endangered animals in the world! What are the chances of accidently videoing one while watching a little gull?

Here's the video. It's been slowed down to make it easier to spot the seal which starts off at the bottom of the screen but then near the end of the video appears at the top. I was oblivious to the seal at the time I filmed this, I was concentrating on the little gull.

Mediterranean monk seal.

Little gull.