thumb|American oystercatchers with chick

thumb|right|Juvenile

The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The exceptions to this are the Eurasian oystercatcher, the South Island oystercatcher, and the Magellanic oystercatcher, which also breed inland, far inland in some cases. In the past there has been a great deal of confusion as to the species limits, with discrete populations of all black oystercatchers being afforded specific status but pied oystercatchers being considered one single species.

Taxonomy

The genus Haematopus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae to accommodate a single species, the Eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus. The genus name Haematopus comes from the Ancient Greek words haima αἳμα meaning blood, and pous πούς meaning foot, referring to the red legs of the Eurasian oystercatcher; it had been in use since Pierre Belon in 1555. The family Haematopodidae was introduced (as the subfamily Haematopodinae) by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte in 1838.

The common name oystercatcher was coined by Mark Catesby in 1731 for the North American species H. palliatus, which he described as eating oysters. The English zoologist William Yarrell in 1843 established this as the preferred term, replacing the older name sea pie, although the term had earlier been used by the Welsh Naturalist Thomas Pennant in 1776 in his British Zoology.

Description

The different species of oystercatcher show little variation in shape or appearance. They range from in length and in wingspan. The Eurasian oystercatcher is the lightest on average, at , while the sooty oystercatcher is the heaviest, at . The plumage of all species is either all-black, or black (or dark brown) on top and white underneath.

The variable oystercatcher is slightly exceptional in being either all-black or pied. They are large, obvious, and noisy plover-like birds, with massive long orange or red bills used for smashing or prying open molluscs. The bill shape varies between species, according to the diet. Those birds with blade-like bill tips pry open or smash mollusc shells, and those with pointed bill tips tend to probe for annelid worms. They show sexual dimorphism, with females being longer-billed and heavier than males.

Conservation

The Canary Islands oystercatcher became extinct during the 20th century. The Chatham oystercatcher is endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand and is listed as endangered by the IUCN, while both the African and Eurasian oystercatchers are considered near threatened. There has been conflict with commercial shellfish farmers, but studies have found that the impact of oystercatchers is much smaller than that of shore crabs.

Species

The genus contains twelve Recent species. Species in taxonomic order:

Fossil record

The earliest fossil of a Haematopus-like bird is a skull from the Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France. The only other pre-Pleistocene fossils are from the Pliocene of the east coast of North America. Palostralegus sulcatuswas described from the Barstovian of Florida, but is now considered to belong to the modern genus. Two species are also known from Pliocene Yorktown Formation of North Carolina, and have been referred to H. aff. palliatus and H. aff. ostralegus.

References

  • ARKive – images and movies of the oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
  • Oystercatcher videos on the Internet Bird Collection
  • LIVE webcam at the seashore in Namsos, Norway 2013

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