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Black (Variable( Oystercatcher

Torea-pango

Haematopus unicolor

Most sandy beaches on Ulva have their own resident oystercatcher pair. More correctly called Variable Oystercatcher I have never seen the variable (black and white) phase and so we think we are entitled to call them black oystercatchers

They generally start nesting in November and the nest scrape will be found just above high tide level. They seem to lay just after spring tides and eggs hatch before the next springs. One pair that lost eggs to storms two years running now nest several feet up a bank.

Photos above !!

The clutch is one or more likely two, but if three eggs are laid the last to hatch seems never to survive, the parents unable to feed three hungry young. While "wild" birds will vigorously defend their nest and chicks, with constant human activity around them they can become somewhat relaxed about people near the nest.

As you would expect with bird nesting in plain view, both the eggs and young chicks are superbly camouflaged (see above photos)

Ulva Island birds seem much more relaxed around people. They have superb eyesight and I have seen them identify and attack a hawk several hundred yards away. They hate wekas with a passion when nesting and with chicks

Size 480 mm


Alarm calls. This pair is protesting our presence on the same beach as their nest. .
The Nest. The nest is very basic, just a scrape in the sand, with a few twigs and leaves.
Misleading. A standard subterfuge when disturbed is for one parent to "nest" several metres away from the real nest. .
Broken wing. Nesting as they do in the open, Oystercatchers will use the broken wing trick occasionally when nesting, but much more often once the chicks are mobile two or three days after hatching.