Thanks for the comment! However, that's not the sky. It's the ocean below. I was up on a "dune-like" berm and the bird was on the edge. You can see the white foam from the breaking waves at bottom left of the photo.
Thanks, Judy. I'm happy with my new lens. It pulled this gull right up close to me, and with the camera body's built-in Shake Reduction, I was able to hand-hold this. However, at 1/1500 sec exposure, I don't think I needed SR at all.