Pied oystercatcher
Haematopus longirostris Vieillot, 1817
The pied oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris) is a bird in the family Haematopodidae, order Charadriiformes. It is a small, terrestrial carnivore of coastal habitats, classed as an aquatic predator and sedentary in its movements.
Quick facts about the pied oystercatcher
Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern, and checklists record it in Australia.
- Weight
- 566.2 g – 616 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 36 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 43.3 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- coastalsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 25.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.08 – 2.8src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3 years – 3.98 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Brain mass
- 4.4 g – 4.74 g (0.719% of body mass)src for Brain mass
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the pied oystercatcher live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The pied oystercatcher is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the pied oystercatcher?
The pied oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris) is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island pied oystercatcher (H. finschi) occurs in New Zealand.
From the Wikipedia article “Pied oystercatcher” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pied_oystercatcher&oldid=1339253832), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the pied oystercatcher endangered?
The pied oystercatcher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the pied oystercatcher classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyHaematopodidae
- genusHaematopus
- SpeciesHaematopus longirostris Vieillot, 1817
Synonyms Haematopus longirostris longirostris, Haematopus longirostris mattingleyi
Other names and names in other languages (38)
- Australian pied oystercatcherEnglish
- Australian pied oystercatcherEnglish
- صائد المحار الأبقعArabic
- garsa de mar becllargaCatalan
- ústřičník dlouhozobýCzech
- pioden fôr fraithWelsh
- Australsk StrandskadeDanish
- AustralausternfischerGerman
- Australien AusternfischerGerman
- Australien-AusternfischerGerman
- Australischer AusternfischerGerman
- Aŭstralia hematopoEsperanto
- aŭstralia hematopodoEsperanto
- Ostrero pío australianoSpanish
- austraalia meriskEstonian
- australianmeriharakkaFinnish
- Huîtrier à long becFrench
- dugokljuni oštrigarCroatian
- ausztrál csigaforgatóHungarian
- Kedidir belangIndonesian
- Beccaccia di mare orientaleItalian
- Beccaccia di mare bianconeraItalian
- オーストラリアミヤコドリJapanese
- australinė jūršarkėLithuanian
- Australische bonte scholeksterDutch
- australtjeldNorwegian
- ostrygojad długodziobyPolish
- piru-piru-australianoPortuguese
- ostraceiro-australianoPortuguese
- Длинноклювый кулик-сорокаRussian
- Австралийский пегий кулик-сорокаRussian
- lastúrničiar dlhozobýSlovak
- Šareni ostrigarSerbian
- australisk strandskataSwedish
- Avustralya PoyrazkuşuTurkish
- кулик-сорока довгодзьобийUkrainian
- 斑蠣鴴Chinese
- 澳洲斑蛎鹬Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the pied oystercatcher
Other species in the same genus Haematopus.
Eurasian oystercatcher
Haematopus ostralegus
American oystercatcher
Haematopus palliatus
South island oystercatcher
Haematopus finschi
African oystercatcher
Haematopus moquini
Variable oystercatcher
Haematopus unicolor
Black oystercatcher
Haematopus bachmani
ComparePied oystercatcher vs Eurasian oystercatcherPied oystercatcher vs American oystercatcherPied oystercatcher vs South island oystercatcherPied oystercatcher vs African oystercatcher
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What is the scientific name of the pied oystercatcher?
The scientific name is Haematopus longirostris, authority Vieillot, 1817.
How heavy is the pied oystercatcher?
Adults typically weigh about 614 g. It belongs to the small size class, with adult body mass of 10 g to 1 kg.
What does the pied oystercatcher eat?
It is a carnivore, classed as an aquatic predator.
Is the pied oystercatcher endangered?
No. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.
How long does the pied oystercatcher live?
The typical lifespan is 36 years, with a highest recorded value of 43 years.
How many eggs does the pied oystercatcher lay?
A clutch has 2 or 3 eggs, with 1 clutch per year, and incubation lasts 26 days.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size · CC0 1.0 · 1.0.7
Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Pied oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pied-oystercatcher
“Pied oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pied-oystercatcher.
@misc{pied_oystercatcher_2026,
title = {Pied oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pied-oystercatcher},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}