Not quite the portrait I was after

A quick trip to the Goukamma River mouth in the hopes of getting a "nice gull portrait" turned out a little differently. I was happily photographing gulls in and around the water near this mound of earth when H asked me: "Can you smell that?" after having been on the far side of the mound. I couldn't. Apparently it was a gag-worthy smell of note. It so happened that I was upwind of a huge stinking rotting whale carcass that had taken on the characteristics of the surrounding landscape as it lay on the sand. I am perhaps not the most observant person around! Even so, it's hard to tell that the gulls are standing on a whale, isn't it?