A stocky black-and-white shorebird with an orange-red bill.
It has an orange-red bill and reddish-pink legs. Flight reveals a broad white wing stripe.
An oystercatcher’s bill is both a shellfish tool and a clue to feeding differences. In the Dutch Wadden Sea, researchers tracked 64 wintering birds with GPS and accelerometers. Bill-tip shape helped distinguish worm specialists from birds feeding on hard-shelled prey. Worm specialists hunted more by day and used grassland when the intertidal flats were exposed briefly and nights were bright. Shellfish specialists spent longer foraging in cold weather; worm specialists foraged less when frost made grassland hard to use.
Individuals foraged 3.7–6.5 hours per tidal period, and longer foraging was associated with lower inferred survival. At this Dutch wintering site, exposed mudflats and nearby grassland provided distinct feeding settings for the two specialist groups.
IUCN Red List · Near Threatened (NT) · Global, species-level assessment
The global IUCN Red List assessment classifies the Eurasian Oystercatcher as Near Threatened (NT; A2bc+3b+4bc). Assessed on 26 July 2019, it estimated 500,000–999,999 mature individuals and reported a decreasing population trend, with a continuing decline in mature individuals. It also recorded an ongoing decline in the area, extent or quality of habitat, including wetlands. The assessment notes that conservation sites have been identified across the range, the species occurs in protected areas, and a systematic monitoring scheme is in place.