h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This oystercatcher is easy to spot, with its black and white plumage against green rocks. It's obviously not concerned with camouflage!

From a distance, this could be a penguin.

Oystercatchers seem to live wherever there is a coastline. We even have them in Boston Harbor. Let's pray for the survival of oysters, so they have something to eat.

Yes, the oystercatchers were quite easy for humans with colour vision to see on the green rocks, but they were quite far away from the beach so they were safe enough

Oystercatchers do have a bit of a varied diet A87928816 but yes they are dependent on the right sort of habitat being available for them and their food so conservation efforts are important. Glad you have some on your coastline too

My state, in collaboration with the federal government, spent billions to clean up the pollution in Boston Harbor. We are proud of our waterfront. Maybe too proud.

I've been reading about entire hills that were dug up in Needham, Mass. so the sand and gravel from them could be brought to downtown Boston to fill in the marshes and make it possible to put buildings there.

But will it be all for naught if the ocean level rise high enough?

Without the oystercatcher, the green rocks could also pass for a mountain range, if you get the scale wrong. (Or assume it is a huge oystercatcher)

The resemblance between oystercatchers and penguins is probably tenuous, though they both belong to the order Charadniformes.

They do seem to eat seafood, though.

So do I, but I can't fly in air or water.

This will seem rather weird, but Flying lemurs are the closest living relatives to primates (I will provide a link to a website if you request it.)

But they don't really fly, and they aren't really lemurs. Anyway, you and I are in the primate Order, which has no flying creatures in it. So, evolution has not given us what it gave the order that contains penguins and oystercatchers. That's random luck.

But we humans have figured out a way to fly, and it usually entails buying airline tickets. As for swimming, that qualifies as a learned skill. Unless someone is physically handicapped, deathly afraid of the water,it is possible to learn some swimming strokes that might work.

Il ike seafood too.