American Oystercatcher

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Caught this behavior of beak plunging at Sandy Hook this past July in the early morning. Don't remember seeing Oystercatchers seemingly cleaning their beaks, this one after eating a snail or a small wet sand dweller. At any rate after several plunges he went right back to dining. C&C welcome.

D4S, Nikon 500mm + 1.4 TC, 1/2500s, f 6.3, ISO 640, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Gimbal head.

Geoffrey

[Bob Smith]

Great low perspective in capturing this image Geoffrey--and the white of the bird is framed nicely by the BG surf. Maybe this was how this fellow was capturing those " small wet sand dwellers"---sand worms or ghost shrimp perhaps?. I found this interesting article on the subject by, amazingly, "The American Oystercatcher Working Group"http://amoywg.org/american-oystercatcher/food-habits/<script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/645f10cc/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great low perspective in capturing this image Geoffrey--and the white of the bird is framed nicely by the BG surf. Maybe this was how this fellow was capturing those " small wet sand dwellers"---sand worms or ghost shrimp perhaps?. I found this interesting article on the subject by, amazingly, "The American Oystercatcher Working Group"http://amoywg.org/american-oystercatcher/food-habits/<script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/645f10cc/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

Thanks Bob, and thank you for the link to the very informative article on the AMOY. Packed with interesting behavioral info. such as probing beneath the wet sand for clams, sand worms, and a large assortment of other sand dwellers.

Geoffrey

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Beautiful color. very nice pose. Superb composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[John Whaley]

I like your image and composition. Lots of detail and a clear eye. The sloping beach and buried beak make your image interesting.

[Bill Dix]

Geoffrey, nice capture of the probing technique described in the interesting article linked by Bob. This is not the feeding behavior that I usually see with these birds. Between you and Bob, you've expanded my knowledge of the species.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Thanks everyone.

Geoffrey