Variable oystercatcher

The variable oystercatcher, black oystercatcher, tōrea pango, or tōrea tai (Haematopus unicolor) is a bird in the family Haematopodidae. It lives in New Zealand.

Appearance

This bird has a long orange bill and thick pink legs.  Female birds have longer bills than male birds.  Its eyes are red with an orange circle.

This bird does not have subspecies, but it can come in different shades of black and white and gray.  Sometimes people see young variable oystercatchers and think they are South Island pied oystercatchers, but adult variable oystercatchers are too big.

Food

Variable oystercatchers eat molluscs, worms, and crustaceans, but they like two-shelled molluscs the most.  They can put their bill inside the crack between the two shells and then twist until it opens.  Sometimes red-billed gulls take the variable oystercatcher's food.

Breeding 
Variable oystercatchers sometimes choose one partner for their whole life.  Sometimes a pair will stay in the same place where they build nests all year, and sometimes they will fly with flocks for part of the year.  Both the male and female variable oystercatcher sit on the egg.  The egg takes 28 days to hatch.  The chick can fly after 6-7 weeks.

Threats

Human beings killed this oystercatcher for food.  Its population was lowest in about 1922, when people decided to stop hunting the bird.  There were 2000 birds alive in the 1970s, 4000 in the 1990s and probably 5000 to 6000 alive today.

New Zealand does not have laws protecting the variable oystercatcher. However, variable oystercatchers build nests in the same places as the fairy terns and New Zealand dotterels, which are protected.

References

Category:Birds of New Zealand
Category:Charadriiformes