Eurasian Oystercatcher

Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) is a bold black-and-white shorebird with pink legs, red eye and a long straight orange-red bill. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It hammers, prises and probes for shellfish and worms on coasts and nests on open ground near water. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).