oystercatcher

Skimming the waves breaking on the shore of the beach. Seems to be smiling too! :o)

a nice flyby over a typical Norfolk sea

Post and run again this morning...We are off to Devon for a week, see y'all later.

Having decided that the adult oyks were just trying to distract me, I visually scoured the rocks looking for chicks. This was the only one I spotted, and it too quickly hid again.

I'm pretty sure the oystercatchers' noisy calls serve a double purpose - warning the chicks to hide, and keeping the presumed predators' attention on the adults.

There were further lookouts posted here and there along the rocky shoreline. It was pretty clear there must be chicks or nests about, but not up on the path where we were and they were hard to spot down amongst the rocks.

Mostly what we saw, and not least heard, at Hell beach that Friday the 13th was oystercatchers. Not only were they all along the beach, but there was always one perched as a lookout on top of one of the boathouses, calling out as anyone approached.

This month's challenge is to show birds in their (natural?) environment. But what does "natural" mean to a bird. Their environment - always shaped in part by human practices - is simply there to be made their own, as they in turn are natural parts of our environment. At our best, we...

Another fly-over while I waited for the tide to turn. This one gave me time for three tries. The other two were duds, but this one turned out ok.

I heard lots of oystercatchers further out on the mudflats, but this was the only one that came within camera range.

Also spotted from between the trees at the top of the bluff.

A noisy band!! ;);

Any time is the right time.

Oystercatcher on tree stump at Thornham Norfolk

Another picture of this Oystercatcher; he really did enjoy the water. As others have said with the other photos, I've not seen them plodding about in a river like this before. I'm sure the hot sunny weather had something to do with it.

Another picture of last week's Oystercatcher. He was really enjoying wading about in the water; I rather liked the ripples he made in this shot.