Bruny Island Oystercatchers - pilates class

A pair of Sooty oystercatchers caught my eye at Adventure Bay on Bruny Island, Tasmania. My presence, in part, roused one of the birds from its slumber. It commenced an impressive stretching routine in preparation for a quick departure should it be required (it wasn't).

Sooty oystercatcher, (Adventure Bay, Tas.), April 2014

Sooty oystercatchers resting, Bruny Island

Generally I think one is more likely to find Sooty oystercatchers on the rocks rather than the sandy beach. The converse applies with the other Oystercatcher we get in Australia - the Pied oystercatcher which prefers mudflats and sandy spits.

The bird shown below was feeding between waves demonstrating the versatility of that amazing bill. This bird is known to be able to split bivalve seashells to extract a morsel. Here it is simply plunging its bill for sand worms.

Pied oystercatcher - Adventure Bay, Bruny Island, Tasmania

This 20 second video (screen grabs above) show how this bird hangs out at the beach!

Bird on!