Common Pied Oystercatcher

TheTamshee:watched this Common Pied Oystercatcher pluck earthworms from the saturated grass and deliver them to the juvenile. They are unmistakable in flight, with white patches on the wings and tail, with black upperparts. Young birds are more brown, have a white neck collar and a duller bill.
The bill shape varies; oystercatchers with broad bill tips open molluscs by prising them apart or hammering through the shell, whereas pointed-bill birds dig up worms. Individual birds specialise in one technique or the other which they learn from their parents. Check out www.allanbellphotography.com for more photographs of these colourful characters.