Haematopus longirostris
The Pied Oystercatcher is black with a white breast and belly. All oystercatchers have a bright orange-red bill, eye-rings and legs and a red eye. Young birds are similar in appearance to the adults, but lack the intense red-orange colours and are brown rather than black. The Pied Oystercatcher is shy of humans and seldom allows close approach. Mostly silent when feeding but may utter a whistled 'peepapeep' or 'pleep-pleep' when in flight.
Not Threatened.
The Pied Oystercatcher is black with a white breast and belly. All oystercatchers have a bright orange-red bill, eye-rings and legs and a red eye. Young birds are similar in appearance to the adults, but lack the intense red-orange colours and are brown rather than black. The Pied Oystercatcher is shy of humans and seldom allows close approach. Mostly silent when feeding but may utter a whistled 'peepapeep' or 'pleep-pleep' when in flight.
48-51 cm.
Taxonomy:
- Haematopus longirostris Vieillot, 1817, New South Wales. Sometimes considered conspecific with H. ostralegus. Occasional hybridization recorded with H. fuliginosus. Form H. ostralegus finschi frequently considered to be race of present species. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution:
- Coasts of Australia and Tasmania; Aru Is and Kai Is (SE Moluccas); also occurs locally on S coast of New Guinea, where probably only non-breeding visitor.
The Pied Oystercatcher prefers mudflats, sandbanks and sandy ocean beaches and is less common along rocky or shingle coastlines. Although rarely recorded far from the coast, the Pied Oystercatcher may occasionally be found in estuarine mudflats and short pasture.
Oystercatchers feed on bivalve molluscs, which are prised apart with their specially adapted bills. Food is found by sight, or by probing their long, chisel-shaped bills in the mud. Young Pied Oystercatchers are one of the few waders that are fed by their parents using this specialised feeding technique. Worms, crustaceans and insects are also eaten.
Oct-Jan. The Pied Oystercatcher breeds in pairs. A breeding territory of some 200 m is formed and is defended by both birds. Nesting takes place on sand, shell grit or shingle just above high water mark on beaches, sandbars, margins of estuaries and lagoons. The eggs are well-camouflaged, being pale brown with darker brown and black blotches and streaks. Both sexes share parenting duties.
