Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris).
Oystercatchers use their long, strong bills to cut open the adductor muscles (that hold the two shell halves together) of bivalve molluscs in order to eat the soft mollusc's body inside.
The Pied Oystercatcher is black with a white breast and belly. All oystercatchers have a bright orange-red bill, eye-rings and legs and a red eye. Young birds are similar in appearance to the adults, but lack the intense red-orange colours and are brown rather than black. The Pied Oystercatcher is shy of humans and seldom allows close approach.
This bird photographed in Batemans Bay NSW, Australia.
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