Pied Oystercatcher

Haematopus longirostris ‡

Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_7344 20220717 - female and male. CLICK for another view.

Notes: Heavy-set w. long, thick reddish bill, black & white plumage, & thick pale-pink feet, legs.
In S Aust, short white wing-bar & squared off white to rump, not V-shaped (like some in N Aust).
Iris scarlet, w. brown flecked in longer-billed female. Juvenile brown iris, legs grey, bill
grey-black distal half. Noisy. Resident on tidal flats, locally on rocky shores where Sooty Oyster-
catcher also occurs. Feed mainly on bivalve molluscs, but also take other invertebrates.

Range from Morcombe & Stewart©
Foreshore, Bellerive, SE Tas IMG_7787 20210613 - male(?) with Sooty Oystercatcher in background. Foreshore, Cairns North, FN Qld IMG_0935 20191021 - female: longer bill, brown flecks in iris.
CLICK male: scarlet iris (bill length not defining) - on 20230925. Foreshore, Cairns North, FN Qld IMG_0221 20200517- female in front, male behind, Whimbrel on left. CLICK for a pair
flying over Bar-tailed Godwits. 20230925. Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_0166 20231101 - possible male taking off. CLICK airborne. Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_7406 20221118 - female (longer bill) back of male. Roebuck Bay, Broome, NW WA IMG_2374 20180911 - more extensive white on rump and on upper- & under-wing
 than SE Aust birds, CLICK as example Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Peninsula, SE Tas 20200207. Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_0588 20240318. pair flying.CLICK for pair on sand, wing stretch, 20240405. S of Millers Bay, SW King Island, Tas SE Tas IMG_2448 20211218 - male on right, juvenile on left. CLICK for female on
right, juvenile on left. 20160222. Foreshore, Cairns, FN Qld IMG_4377 20221018 - partly leucistic. CLICK to see on 20230823. Foreshore, Cairns North, FN Qld IMG_8445 20240616 - partly leucistic. CLICK to enlarge. Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_7363 20220717 Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_7031 20220710 Rottnest Island, SW WA MVI_7498 20181015 - young