Haematopodidae
Pied Oystercatcher
Haematopus longirostris
The Coral Blade
- Length
- 48 cm
- Wingspan
- 88 cm
- Family
- Haematopodidae
Identification
A shorebird of decisive contrast: black head and back, white belly, a long straight orange-red bill, and pinkish legs. The eye is red. Sooty Oystercatchers are all dark; this one wears a white shirt to the tide-line.
Distinctive marks
- Black above, white below
- Long straight orange-red bill
- Pink legs
- Red eye
- Always on sand, rock, or mudflat
Behaviour & ecology
Pairs hold stretches of beach and feed on bivalves, prising or hammering with that coral blade. They nest in a scrape above the wrack. Dogs and spring tides are their chief disturbances.
Voice
A carrying, piping 'kleep' — one of the true sounds of an Australian beach.
On the Peninsula
Sandy beaches and mudflats of Port Phillip and Western Port; quieter Peninsula beaches hold pairs.
Season
Year-round. Give nests a wide berth from spring into summer.
Diet
Pipis, mussels, worms, and other intertidal invertebrates.
Conservation
Near Threatened in Victoria. Beach-nesting birds need space.
Lore & resonance
The bill is a tool and a signature: a single stroke of coral drawn against black and white. When an oystercatcher pipes down a winter beach, the tide answers.
If you would attract them
You do not attract them. You leave the upper beach alone in spring, leash the dog, and walk below the wrack line.
