| South Island Oystercatcher (Haematopus finschi (Martens, 1897)) |
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Scientific name: Haematopus finschi (Martens, 1897) Common name: South Island Oystercatcher Other names: Maori name : Torea. French name: Huîtrier de Finsch Order: Charadriiformes Family: Haematopodidae Size: Body size: 44 to 48 cm; Weight: 490 to 560 g; Wingspan: 80 to 86 cm. Females are slightly larger than males. Habitat: Bays, estuaries and ports, but also inland along rivers or lakes, in cultivated areas and in meadows. Food: Fish, worms, bivalve molluscs that it opens with its beak, gastropods and crabs on the seashore, earthworms and insect larvae further inland. Nesting: The nest is built on the ground, it is a simple depression lined with twigs. There is a clutch of about 3 eggs generally during the austral spring or summer. Migration: At the end of the breeding season South Island Oystercatchers migrate to the coasts of the South Island and the North Island. Geographic area: Endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. It nests east of the Southern Alps. |
The South Island Oystercatcher has black head, neck, chest, back, wings and tail. The other underparts are white. There is a thin white spot on the shoulders between the chest and the closed wing. The long straight bill is red. The eyes are bright red. The legs are pinkish. Juveniles are more brownish. They have duller legs. The bill is darker. There is possible confusion with the black and white form of the Variable Oystercatcher (Haematopus unicolor). This latter species has black shoulders and the limit between the black of the upper parts and the white of the lower parts is not as clear as on the South Island Oystercatcher. The bill of the Variable Oystercatcher is also significantly thicker. |
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The white shoulders and the clear limit between the black of the chest and the white of the belly indicate the South Island Oystercatcher. |
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I did not observe large flocks but only a few isolated individuals. |
André Bon July 2014