A bold, striking shorebird found along the coasts of southern Africa. It’s easy to recognise: the whole body is jet-black, the bill is long and glowing red, the legs are pink, and the eyes are bright red with a fine red ring around them. It lives almost entirely along rocky and sandy shores in South Africa, Namibia, and a little into southern Angola, where waves crash, kelp washes up, and shellfish cling to the rocks.

As its name suggests, the African oystercatcher is a shellfish specialist. Its favourite foods are mussels, limpets, and other rocky-shore molluscs, along with sand-dwelling bivalves, worms, and small crabs. On rocky coasts, it patrols the intertidal zone, timing its foraging with the tides. When the rocks are exposed, it walks with a steady, purposeful stride, probing and prising at shellfish. Some birds slide their bill between the shells and twist to lever them open; others hammer at one side until the shell cracks. On sandy beaches, they probe just under the surface for hidden shellfish, leaving neat little holes in patterns along the shore. You can often tell African oystercatchers are around even if you don’t see them, just by the clusters of cracked shells they leave behind.

African oystercatchers typically form long-term pairs and defend territories year-round, especially on good feeding stretches. For nesting, they keep things simple: the nest is usually just a shallow scrape on open sand, pebbles, or shell, sometimes with a few bits of shell or seaweed added. The eggs are sandy and speckled, blending perfectly into their surroundings. This camouflage is essential because the nest is often in plain view, just above the high-tide line.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Angola

2020

Non-Breeding

Mozambique

2020

Non-Breeding

Namibia

2020

South Africa

2020