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| American Oystercatcher |
The first time I saw one of these birds I thought I was going a little crazy. I mean, it's hard to see how there's a need for a bird to look like this. But I'm really glad they do. I visited Fort De Soto last weekend, and you're almost guaranteed to see them at North Beach there, and on Saturday I saw 6--four at North Beach and two at the boat ramp. The birds at the boat ramp were far more cooperative, so that's where these photos came from.
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| American Oystercatcher |
Unfortunately, these birds were standing on solid concrete. That was almost enough for me to skip photographing them. However, I normally crouch down as low as I can, and I thought if I did, I might be able to minimize the how man-made the ground looked. There was some debris near the birds as well, and I thought that might add to a more natural feel.
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| American Oystercatcher |
One of these birds has an eye issue. It looks to have a blown out eye. I don't know to what extent oystercatchers are affected by this condition--perhaps none at all, but it has aroused my curiosity. If any of you know about this, feel free to let me know.
Every single AMOY I have ever seen has one or both pupils torn/blown/splotchy/rorschached. I have no idea, why, but it seems at least to affect a significant portion of the population without actually affecting them. Crazy good shots.
ReplyDeleteIn BLOY, it's a gender thing. Most birds with the funky pupil are females; I suspect the same may be true for AMOY. Quality crushes!
ReplyDelete