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I’d not seen these before

Cathy
These being black and white seagull type birds I came across on one of my walks along Queens Beach in Bowen Qld last July.  I had snuck up onto to some rocks to take the photos but had become too engrossed watching them in the water and it wasn’t till they started to move I realised I hadn’t actually pressed the shutter.  So these two shots are all I got!  Not close up ones either!
I kept looking at them in the camera and for the life of me couldn’t think what it was that was so different about them.  Thats what spending time away in the sun does to me lol

I didn’t have a bird book with me and it wasn’t till I got home and was sorting out the photos I had a good look at them.  Yes, then it was obvious that they did have a different look about them.  They certainly weren’t gulls at all – they were balck and white and had ‘red’ legs and a long ‘reddy orange’ beak for a start lol

After a little bit of research I discovered they are actually an endangered Australian native bird called Australian Pied Oystercatchers.   
There are Oystercatchers all over the world (see here)
and these are our version
http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Haematopus-longirostris. 
 So I guess I was lucky to see them.
I’ve seperated and cropped the two photos to show you them in more detail
Not living near the coast means that I often get the chance to see something new and different when I’m ‘out of town’
And I’m sure if you click this link you will find many more Camera Critters to look and marvel at.

10 thoughts on “I’d not seen these before”

  1. Hi Cathy, a totally new one on me, never heard of an oyster catcher either. 🙂 Of course, I am pretty landlocked. Unique birds, a nice 'catch'!

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  3. Nice catch. They look just like our American Oystercatchers. We have them around the coast as well. They are very skittish birds and it's hard to get close to them.

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