The South Island Pied Oystercatcher (SIPO) is a moderately sized wader which strongly resembles and is very closely related to our Australian Pied Oystercatcher. Whilst the Australian Pied Oystercatcher is widespread across the coastal regions of Australia, the SIPO is resident only in New Zealand, with some dispersing individuals occasionally making their way to Australia and some Pacific and Sub-Antarctic islands.
This particular bird arrived in Sydney Harbour and was first photographed and reported by Biggles Csolander on Shark Island on 1/3/15.
On 3/3/15 I managed to get myself out of school early to attempt to track down this bird. It had been seen the day before by Ashwin Rudder, Josh Bergmark and Nathan Ruser on Shark Island, so I managed to get myself to Circular Quay by about 1:15pm to catch the last ferry out to the island. Luckily I was in contact with Max Breckenridge, who was chasing it at around the same time I was, and Jenny Stiles who had seen it earlier in the day, so I was directed to head to Chowder Head, where the SIPO had flown to from Shark Island. These two sites turned out to be its favourite feeding and roosting sites that it flew between depending on the tide. The ride across to Taronga Zoo enabled me to finally see the New Zealand Fur Seal that seems to be reliably seen on the steps of the harbour side of the Sydney Opera House.
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| New Zealand Fur Seal |
I arrived at the site and was whisked away by Dave Stowe and Max Breckenridge, who, despite being pushed for time, very nicely dropped me off at the bush track that lead to the little rock reef the oystercatcher was on. Dave instructed me to walk quietly up to where the fisherman was standing out on the point - apparently the bird was wandering around near him. I sprinted down the track and out onto the rock reef, and quietly made my way out to the fisherman. I anxiously peered over the rock.... NO BIRD!!!!!
Frantically I asked the fisherman where the bird was - he had no idea what I was talking about. After I described it to him, he said it had been by his feet about 10 minutes ago, but had since disappeared. My stomach turned to lead and I slowly turned away from the fisherman, scanning the area he'd last seen it feeding in. No bird. Having scanned the reef to the west, I turned my focus to the east. Something white on a rock... plastic bag . More white 2m to its left... bird poop. I shifted my bins a bit to the right... SIPO!!!!!!!
The bird had hunkered down low on the rocks, resting on one leg, it's tail feathers blowing in the wind. I crept slowly towards it, keeping low to the ground, putting a rock between myself and the bird wherever possible. At about 5m distant, I stopped and sat down. The bird had seen me, but remained unperturbed, eventually sitting down as well and dozing off. I must have sat there for about 45minutes watching, filming and photographing the bird with my little point and shoot.
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| SIPO! |
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| More SIPO! |
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| Lazy SIPO |
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| Lazy lazy SIPO |
Half way through filming, I noticed a sudden change in the background as a large red and white shape filled the space behind the bird where the water had been. A Captain Cook Cruise ship, slowed to a stop about 20-30m off the rocks. The moment it had stopped, the deck filled with eager tourists and birders. Everyone wanted a piece of this bird, what did it matter if they had to commandeer a tourist ferry or not?! (Looking at you Dave Mitford!) After a few minutes the ferry moved on.
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| SIPO preening with a gull and Captain Cook ship in the background |
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| Me photographing the SIPO with my camera screen. Photo by David Mitford. |
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| Short stubby legs, long slender bill, white rump going up the back.... could you get more SIPO? |
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| Bzzzzzzzzy SIPO, always doing something! |
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| Elegant SIPO |
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| SIPO (circled) and the fisherman |
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| Hungry SIPO |
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| Beautiful SIPO |
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| Smooth SIPO |
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| What a stunning bird! |
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| Havin' a sneeze |
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| Ooooh yum, mussels! |
I left after spending around 2 hours with this great bird. All previous report of it had been that it was quite flighty and had been flushed on more than one occasion by birders getting too close to it. I moved to within 5m causing no disturbance and once still, I was approached to within a metre by this fantastic vagrant! I left the site with the bird still happily feeding in the rock pools.
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| Bye-bye!! |
A special thanks to Dave Stowe, Jenny Stiles and Max Breckenridge for helping me locate the bird on the day!!
Thanks for reading!!
