A medium shorebird with long skinny legs and a long beak. The Oystercatcher has a black head and black with a white belly, orange-red eyes, and very distinctive orange legs and beak.
Size
50 cm long (from head to tail)
Behaviour
Diet
These shorebirds feed on bivalve molluscs prised apart with specially adapted bills. Food is found by probing their long, chisel-shaped bills in the mud. Oystercatchers are one of the few waders that feed their young with this specialised feeding technique.
Breeding
Breeds in pairs with a territory of 200 m defended by both birds. Both sexes share parenting duties. They nest on the sand just above high water mark on beaches, sandbars, margins of estuaries and lagoons. Eggs are well-camouflaged, pale brown with darker brown and black blotches and streaks.
Field Guide
Improve your identification skills. Download your Australian Pied Oystercatcher field guide here!
