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American Oystercatcher
[Haematopus palliatus]
[Length 17.5 in. Wingspan 32 in.]
The strikingly patterned American Oystercatcher is a typical resident of the barrier beaches along much of the eastern US.
Its loud, piping calls carry great distances, and often the bird is heard long before it is seen.
Oystercatchers use their knife-like bills to chisel and pry open a variety of salt and brackish water shellfish, not just oysters, as their name implies.
This one was photographed on one of the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in Virginia, USA.
Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 200 film.
(Date: May 1990)
(use image name "oyster2" for inquiries)
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