Sooty Oystercatcher

A recent excursion to the sand and rock ledge beach at Corinella resulted in a chance encounter with a pair of Sooty Oystercatchers.

Sooty Oystercatchers are shorebirds that tend to prefer rocky shorelines and headlands, stony beaches and exposed reefs, appearing less often on sandy beaches unlike its close cousin the Pied Oystercatcher.

As their name suggests, they do eat molluscs but will take crustaceans and worms too. Their strong bills are used to probe and prise for food in rocky cracks and ledges. Sometimes they are seen hammering a mollusc on a rock to crack open the shell.

The sooty is endemic to Australia and is found mostly within 50m of the rocky shorelines almost right around the continent – the species is listed as vulnerable in NSW.

Sooty Oystercatchers nest in a scrape in the pebbles or shells above the high tide line and like all beach-nesting shorebirds, they are often subject to disturbance by human (and dog) beach-goers.