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Australian Wildlife

  Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)





Pied Oystercatcher | Haematopus longirostris photo
Two Pied Oystercatcher on a sand dune, Couran Cove Island Resort, Queensland

Image by Philmo1 - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Pied Oystercatcher | Haematopus longirostris photo
Pied Oystercatcher, Fraser Island, Australia

Image by Glen Fergus - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







PIED OYSTERCATCHER FACTS

Description
Body black with white underparts extending to the sides of the breast. Legs pink, bill red-orange. Red ring around eye. Body up to 52 cm long.

Pied Oystercatchers breed in pairs, but forms flocks in the non-breeding season, January-August. They mainly eat bivalve molluscs.

Author credit: Museum Victoria Sciences Staff / Museum Victoria

Habitat
Coastal bays, offshore islands and intertidal mudflats.

Food
Carnivore

Range
Mainland Australian and Tasmanian coasts.

distribution map showing range of Haematopus longirostris in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.


Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.




Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Haematopodidae
Genus:Haematopus
Species:longirostris
Common Name:Pied Oystercatcher

Relatives in same Genus
  Sooty Oystercatcher (H. fuliginosus)