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The
Common Pied Oystercatcher, or in Europe just Oystercatcher
is a wader in the Oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae.
It is the most widespread of the oystercatchers, with
three races breeding in western Europe, central Eurasia,
and Kamchatka and China. No other oystercatcher occurs
within this area. This is a migratory species over most
of its range, wintering in north Africa, southern most
Europe and south Asia. It is present all year in Ireland,
Great Britain and the adjacent European coasts. It is
highly gregarious outside the breeding season. These are
large obvious and noisy plover-like birds, with black
and white plumage, red legs and strong broad red bills
used for smashing or prising open molluscs such as mussels
or for finding earthworms. The bill shape varies; oystercatchers
with broad bill tips open molluscs by prising them apart
or hammering through the shell, whereas pointed-bill birds
dig up worms. |
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This
oystercatcher is unmistakable in flight, with white patches
in the wings and tail, otherwise black upperparts, and
white underparts. Young birds are browner, have a white
neck collar, and a duller bill. The call is a distinctive
loud piping. The nest is a bare scrape on pebbles, on
the coast or on inland gravelly islands. 2-4 eggs are
laid. Because of its large numbers and readily identified
behaviour, the Oystercatcher is an important indicator
species for the health of the ecosystems where it congregates.
Extensive long-term studies have been carried out on its
foraging behaviour, in northern Germany, in the Netherlands
and particularly on the River Exe estuary in south-west
England, and these form an important part of the foundation
of the modern discipline of behavioural ecology. |
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