Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus
Large, distinctive wader with long orange-red bill, black head, chest and upperparts and white underparts. It does not catch oysters as its name suggests but rather mussels and other types of molluscs and worms. Its special sword shaped beak means it can open certain types of shell which other waders cannot and parent birds pass on their own unique technique to their young!
Resident & winter visitor (from Iceland and the Faeroes).
Around 60,000 Oystercatchers spend the winter around the Irish coast.
Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus
Large, distinctive wader with long orange-red bill, black head, chest and upperparts and white underparts. It does not catch oysters as its name suggests but rather mussels and other types of molluscs and worms. Its special sword shaped beak means it can open certain types of shell which other waders cannot and parent birds pass on their own unique technique to their young!
Resident & winter visitor (from Iceland and the Faeroes).
Around 60,000 Oystercatchers spend the winter around the Irish coast.