The Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) is a large, striking black-and-white wader of the coast, with a long, bright red bill and a loud, piercing call — one of the earliest spring arrivals along the Swedish coast. It measures 40–47 cm with a wingspan of 72–85 cm and weighs 400–700 grams. The head, neck and back are jet black and the belly pure white, the long stout bill bright red, the eyes red and the legs pink; in flight a broad white wing bar and white rump are visible, making the combination of colours completely unmistakable.
Its call is a loud, piercing "klyit-klyit", one of the most recognisable sounds of the coast, and displaying groups give a rhythmic, accelerating trilling call. Breeding along the entire Swedish coastline and at some larger lakes, with a population estimated at 15,000–25,000 pairs, it arrives very early — already in March in the south — favouring rocky and sandy shores and meadowland near the coast, with some birds wintering in southern Sweden. It nests in the open, often on shingle, rock, arable land or meadow near water, laying 2–4 eggs in a shallow scrape that both parents incubate; unusually for a wader, the young are fed by the parents for an extended period because opening mussels takes skill learned from the adults and varying by individual. Its diet is mussels, snails and worms, opened either by hammering the shell or by inserting the bill to sever the muscle holding the shells together. The species is red-listed as near threatened (NT) in Sweden, and breeding birds can live to a great age, often more than 20 years.
Read about this species in Swedish →