Saturday 5 March 2011

1000/379: 05 March 2011: Oystercatchers

I love oystercatchers – they’re eye-catching, big enough to see easily and they remind me of the gangs of boisterous teenagers that people try to ban from shopping centres. Their excited piping is the sound of the seaside to me – much more so than the sound of gulls which I always associate with human rubbish and slightly iffy tourist attractions. And even though they have a giant orange marlin spike on the front of their face they aren’t aggressive like gulls.

They are probably my favourite bird and I could watch them for ages – but they're beggars to photograph. Their excitability is a measure of their nervousness, so it took me ages to sneak up on this lot – and they flew off almost immediately as I made an unguarded movement. Maybe I’ll try again next Saturday.

For the observant there’s also a couple of redshank in the back row.

1000/379

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm reliably informed - for the oystercatcher geeks among you - that the bird with the white stripe below its eye in the group of three mid-left is a non-breeding adult - unlike the others.