Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)
About the Pied Oystercatcher
The pied oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris) is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island pied oystercatcher (H. finschi) occurs in New Zealand. The name "oystercatcher" is something of a misnomer for this species, because they seldom eat oysters, which are found mainly on rocky coastlines. Pied oystercatchers frequent sandy coastlines, where they feed mainly on bivalve molluscs, which are prised apart with their specially adapted bill. These adaptations allow the Pied oystercatchers to slip their bills between the ventral edges of these shelled organisms, further allowing them to sever the shells and reach the edible flesh inside.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 31 recordings for this species: 21 CC BY-NC-SA · 10 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Australia in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Eurasian OystercatcherHaematopus ostralegusrecording
- Variable OystercatcherHaematopus unicolorrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.