Oldt1mer - Keith's photos with the keyword: Haematopus ostralegus

This fine pair of Oystercatchers – Haematopus ostralegus – had just been mating when I took this shot. The Oystercatcher, also known as the Common Pied Oystercatcher, the Palaearctic Oystercatcher or simply the Oystercatcher, does not eat many oysters preferring cockles, mussels, earthworms etc. probably because they are more available than oysters. Seen at Martin Mere, a picture of them starting to mate can be seen a bit earlier in my photostream. This Picture is fully © Copyrighted. None of my images may be copied, reproduced or altered in any form or manner or placed on the internet or any other social media, or in any form of publication either print or otherwise, in any form or manner without my written permission.

The Eurasian Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus – is also known as the Common Pied Oystercatcher, the Palaearctic Oystercatcher or just the Oystercatcher. Despite its name, oysters do not form a large part of its diet, preferring molluscs such as cockles and mussels where available and earthworms and insect larvae when inland but this does change depending on location. It is the national bird of the Faroe Islands. This pair had just flown in, pecked around for a minute then the male decided that he would like a family and went straight to the female and hopped on board. This shot was just before he settled down to business and was taken at Martin Mere Wetlands. I do have further shots of the procedure but I liked this one the best. This Picture is fully © Copyrighted. None of my images may be copied, reproduced or altered in any form or manner or placed on the internet or any other social media, or in any form of publication either print or otherwise, in any form or manner without my written permission.

The Eurasian Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus - is also known as the 'Common Pied Oystercatcher', the 'Palaearctic Oystercatcher' or just the 'Oystercatcher'. Contrary to its name, oysters are not a large part of their diet, preferring mussels, cockles and other molluscs which they smash or prise open with their strong beaks, they are very partial to earth worms when inland or when molluscs are in short supply. They are so named because they are actually capable of opening oysters which few, if any, other wading birds can. This one was spotted at Pennington Flash. This Picture is fully © Copyrighted. None of my images may be copied, reproduced or altered in any form or manner or placed on the internet or any other social media, or in any form of publication either print or otherwise, in any form or manner without my written permission.