The “odd couple” intrigued me all summer. The oystercatcher pair flew to roost each evening on the tin roof of the boatsheds jutting into the Derwent off Sandy Bay Rd close to the casino. They’d vanish each morning but sometimes on my keep-fit walk through Lower Sandy Bay I’d seen them again resting on the roof, even if on high summer days the metal under their feet must have been scorching.
One morning, I decided to scan the whole coast going south to see what they got up to by day. I chose my moment, with an ultra-low tide exposing beaches for about three kilometres.
I didn’t have to walk far. There were the oystercatchers right in front of me at Red Chapel Beach, happily probing the soft, wet sand for crustaceans, molluscs and marine worms.
In the great world of shorebirds, which are also termed waders, the pied oystercatcher is the most striking. It is painted in crisp black-and-white plumage, as its name suggests, and this is set off by a long beak which resembles a bright-red knitting needle. Unlike many of the wader species which undertake lengthy migratory journeys to the far-northern hemisphere, the Australian oystercatchers are largely sedentary.
Searching for more oystercatchers, I pressed on and soon came across an entire family on rocks beyond Long Beach. Two adults with what was obviously a youngster in tow. The young bird still had to attain its full adult livery, and was washed in a brown plumage indicating its age.
Although pied oystercatchers are usually found on open, sea-washed beaches, this family waded through rockpools, probing fissures in the rocks for minute sea creatures. It was clear they were teaching their youngster how to find food, the young bird mimicking the nimble knitting-needle motion of its parents’ bills.
Waders worldwide, especially those travelling to Australia through South-East Asia, are under extreme threat from coastal development along their migration routes., and from disturbance on Australian beaches where they refuel during our summer for the migration back to breeding grounds in the far north, some of these areas within the Arctic Circle.
The same applies to our resident oystercatchers, suffering both loss of habitat and harassment from beachgoers and their horses and dogs during the summer months when they are trying to breed. Dogs especially are a problem and canines are banned from some beaches
Such is the case of Red Chapel Beach where I started my walk. On a beautiful later-summer’s day, the threats faced by the oystercatchers were far from my thoughts as I pressed on. Towards Taroona I came across the less common sooty oystercatcher, all-black with orange beak and legs, which prefers to seek food among rocks.
The sooty oystercatchers peeped a warning as I approached but soon settled. They knew I meant them no harm.