Eurasian Oystercatcher

The Eurasian oystercatcher is a strikingly black-and-white wader with a long, orange-red bill and pink legs. Despite its name, it mostly eats mussels, cockles and worms, which it prises open with its flattened bill or pulls from the mud. Remarkably, each oystercatcher learns its own technique from its parents: some hammer a mussel to break it, others slip their bill between the shells, and these habits are passed down from generation to generation. Outside the breeding season it gathers in large flocks on mudflats and rocky shores. In the Vendée it can be seen all year round.