Bold and stylish, their orange beaks and eye rings contrasting with glossy black feathers, and quietly determined in attitude, two variable oystercatchers (Haematopus unicolor) spied wading and foraging along the Island Bay shoreline in the late afternoon sun.
These are impressive birds - they tend to couple for life and to stay in the same territory. And despite the human presence and disruption around them, they just seem to keep going about their lives - we are a bit of a nuisance, but they are undeterred.