Wild Bird Wednesday 31 - Pied Oystercatchers.

I know that science is supposed to be a very serious thing - rational, unbiased, rich in data, low in anecdote and so on.   Which is why I would have made a very poor ornithologist.  I am but a humble big watcher, and Pied Oystercatchers are one of my favourite birds.  They always make me smile.  And I suspect that if I had ever had to study them in a serious fashion, enjoyment and bias may have got in the way of objective observation.

The Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris) is found all around the coast of Australia, with a greater fondness for sandy beaches that rocky ones.  It's noisy, easy to spot and always busy - its my kind of bird really.

I had some very good views in Tasmania - and managed to get some images of what I take to be family parties of these birds.

You can tell the juveniles in these pictures by the shorter beak and the scalloping on the feathers on the back.

As you can see they do not avoid rocks entirely - and as you may also see, they dont always eat oysters.    One of the beaches where I took these pictures had a healthy population on small soldier crabs - they would cork-screw themselves into the sand as you approached. They were very popular with my kids and equally popular with the oystercatchers.

These (rather over cropped) images show what happens to the crabs when their defences fail!

Now its your turn.

Click on the link below to join WBW.  Visit as many links as you can and dont forget to link back to this page.  (As a gentle reminder, could I ask that you link to a specific post in your blogs, that way its easier for me (and others) to find!)  Cheers  SM