Sooty Oystercatchers Poem by Francis Duggan

Like giant sized blackbirds dark feathers and orange bills
They search for cockles and oysters along the rocky shore
I've seen them in family groups of five to nine or ten
And in smaller groups of two to three or four.

The Sooty Oystercatchers uncommon and yet not rare
And not as plentiful as the more abundant pied
You see them on volcanic rocks in family groups
Searching for shell food washed out by the tide.

They nest amongst 'pigface' or on rocks close to the sea
And two to three blotched yellow eggs they lay
And you always hear them piping as they fly
Above the tide line all along the bay.

They are the blackbirds of the ocean shore
And they can be seen after the tide go out
On rocky shores in Cape Paterson and Inverloch
And all along the coastline down through Gippsland South.

You always hear them piping as they fly
Gleep gleep a gleep such pleasant sounds they make
And though not often seen quite easily recognized
And once heard and seen birds you should not mistake.