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Oystercathcers

 

 

The migration of oystercatchers proceeds unobserved on the coast – there are no migrant flocks as in spring, they migrate in small groups and those who breed here have mostly already left. In September birds that have been breeding in the North pass Estonia’s coasts on their migration.

 

The handsome „sea magpies“, in contrasting colours, are a little smaller than gulls – length about 40 centimetres, weight about half a kilo. A black-and-white plumage, straight red beak and red eye rings, slightly paler legs, and loud-voiced – they are not easily ignored. They feed on molluscs and polychaeta worms living in the shore areas of coastal bays.

 

They move slowly along the seacoasts towards the wintering areas in Western Europe.

 

Oystercatchers at Vilsandi

 

The e-Biodiversity database has oystercatcher observations.