Ripple's Estuary Song

Ripple was found with a broken wing on a popular beach, an American oystercatcher likely hit by a kite surfer's line. The wing healed with a droop, preventing sustained flight. We gave her a large, sandy aviary with a shallow saltwater pool. She'd use her brilliant orange-red beak to 'hammer' at shellfish we provided, a behavior as instinctive as breathing. Her call was a loud, piercing *wheep!* The aviary is silent now, missing her busy patrols along the fake tide line, the rhythmic tapping of her beak on clams, and her striking black-and-white plumage against the sand.