South Island Oystercatcher

Fascinating facts about the South Island Oystercatcher

• The South Island oystercatcher is 46 cm long, has an 80–86 cm wingspan and weighs about 550 g. It has a long red-orange bill, bright red legs and black-white plumage.
• An individual South Island oystercatcher can eat around 200,000 New Zealand cockles in a year.
• During the breeding season the bird builds a shallow scrape nest in sand on farmland or on a gravel bar in a braided river, laying usually two, sometimes three, blotched brown eggs. Both parents incubate for 24–28 days, and the chicks fledge about six weeks after hatching.
• Most South Island oystercatchers spend their non-breeding months on North Island estuaries, but occasional vagrants have been recorded on Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, and the eastern coast of mainland Australia.
• Legal protection granted in 1940 halted a decline caused by hunting in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and by 2002 the population was estimated at 110,000 individuals. Its conservation status is Least Concern.

At a glance

About the South Island Oystercatcher

The South Island oystercatcher, known locally as tōrea and affectionately abbreviated to SIPO, cuts a striking figure across New Zealand’s wetlands and coasts. At 46 cm long with an 80–86 cm wingspan, its bold black and white plumage is punctuated by a long, red-orange bill and vivid red legs, while a white lower back and forward-pointing demarcation line on the breast set it apart from its Australian cousin. This pied wader favors a mosaic of habitats: inland breeding grounds range from braided river sand scrapes and sub-alpine tundra to cultivated paddocks, while outside the season it gathers on estuarine mudflats, sandy beaches and harbor bays where the tide reveals its buffet. Its diet is dominated by mollusks and worms, most famously the New Zealand cockle Austrovenus stutchburyi, and a single bird can consume an astonishing 200,000 cockles in a year. Vocalizations include piping calls for social interaction, a sharp alarm note, and a hushed flight call that carries over the surf. One surprising twist in its life cycle is the flatworm Curtuteria australis, which uses the oystercatcher as a moving incubator: the bird eats infected cockles, excretes the parasite’s eggs, which are then taken up by whelks and back into cockles, completing a hidden marine loop.

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